The prospect of a transition to independence for Southern Sudan in July has turned into a serious political and diplomatic challenge for all concerned. Although a referendum in January on the future of the territory produced an overwhelming vote in favour of independence, the issues dividing north and south were sharply highlighted in the weeks that followed.
The head of the southern government, Salva Kiir, on 12 March suspended negotiations with the north over the most difficult issues: demarcation of the north-south border, and the division of the oil industry and Sudan’s national debt. This breakdown in talks did not augur well for the preparations for partition. Because of the location of the oil fields, it has been generally assumed that the south could take control of about 75 percent of Sudan’s oil production after July. Most of the oil fields are in the border states of Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei.
Hundreds of people were reported killed in these states in February and March in series of clashes between the southern government’s forces and renegade militias allegedly acting for the government in Khartoum. The southern government has produced documents supposedly showing that Khartoum started arming a militia commanded by George Althor, a former southern rebel chief of staff, in May last year.
Distrust between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and other parties in the south is a critical challenge undermining unity on the eve of the south’s independence, according to the Carter Center, which deployed observers to monitor the independence referendum.
