Khartoum, May 06: Mainly Christian south Sudan will need recognition and coordinated support from its neighbours to prevent conflict if it secedes as expected in a referendum next year, a think-tank said on Thursday.
In a report, “Sudan: Regional Perspectives on the Prospect of Regional Independence,” the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said recognition of a state in southern Sudan should “prove relatively uncomplicated.”
It said neighbouring countries should help ensure the referendum is carried out peacefully and coordinate their position.
“Pragmatic tones are emerging with regard to support for the referendum exercise and result, but if the process is in fact disrupted or compromised, the broader international community will seek to calibrate its response in light of African opinion,” the report said.
African Union backing on particular will be crucial in enduring a new south Sudanese state would enjoy legitimacy, the report said.
“Any return to conflict in Sudan would undoubtedly draw in the region,” Ernst Jan Hogendoorn, the group’s Horn of Africa project director, said in the report.
“Regional neighbours, the AU, and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development should harmonise efforts to support the referendum process, recognise its results and help manage peaceful implementation of its outcome.”
South Sudan was granted limited autonomy and promised an independence referendum in a 2005 peace deal that ended a two-decade civil war south and north.
Sudan last month held its first multi-party general election in more than two decades, handing President Omar al-Beshir.
—Agencies