Excited anticipation in Southern Sudan

The expectations are high as the Southern Sudanese prepare to cast their votes in a referendum on the South’s independence starting 9 January. Local journalists in the south are ready to cover the historic event

By Janne Bruvoll, Yei, Southern Sudan

“My referendum – My freedom” it says on one of the many posters, flags and stickers covering walls, vehicles and trees across Southern Sudan. On Sunday 9 January 2011, the moment that all Southern Sudanese have been waiting for will finally arrive and they will be able to cast their votes in a referendum on Southern Sudanese independence. The referendum is part of a peace deal signed by the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in January 2005 which ended over 20 years of civil war.

With only two days left until the referendum, the celebrations have started in Southern Sudan.

“I am excited about the voting and many are already ready. I keep my voter registration card in a safe place, Poverty Alfred Taban”, a journalist from Yei in Southern Sudan says.

The commissioner of Yei River County in Southern Sudan is also looking forward for the polling to start.

“People are ready and I think it will be a peaceful referendum”, Commissioner David Lokonga Moses says.

For weeks, civil society representatives and journalists from Yei have travelled to remote areas to prepare the voters for the referendum. By leaving their fingerprint next to either the choice of ‘unity’ or the choice of ‘secession’, the voters can decide on the future of their people. One of the journalists who have taken part in the voter education is Dickson Mawa James.

“People are eager to vote. This is what I see. Even in church, people are praying for this day”, he says.

Bye-bye to Khartoum

For most people, the choice between unity and secession is easy.

“I vote for my freedom”, an immigration official in Yei River County says with a big smile.

“I will vote because it is time that we become independent. We have been cheated by the Arabs for far too long now”, Mary Paya Hillary from Yei says.

“There are a lot of expectations that the result will lead to secession. That is what I get from people when I am moving around. People feel they have suffered enough under the current government. People want to see something new”, says Data Emmanuel Aggrey who is the editor of Maruba, a local newsletter in Yei.

He is expecting the week of voting to also be a week of celebrations.

“I have heard especially young people saying that they should organise themselves and start celebrations.”

To help the great majority of voters in Southern Sudan who are illiterate, each choice on the ballot paper is illustrated by a symbol, a handshake for unity and a single hand showing its palm for secession.

“People only talk about separation. They say they need the hand of ‘bye-bye’ as they call the symbol of secession”, reporter at a local radio station in Yei Elisa Akeru Sillas says. He plans to be among the first to vote at his polling centre.

“I will vote on the first day because after that I will travel to the place where I am going to report about the referendum”, he explains.

Elisa Akeru Sillas and his colleagues in Yei will be covering the referendum throughout the process. Therefore, they have made sure that everyone has official accreditation cards from the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission which makes it possible for them to enter the polling centres.

“It is important for us to cover the referendum process to make sure that the public is informed on how the process is going and whether there are any malpractices. This can also encourage other people to hurry and vote before it is too late. Also, it will make people to know what the outcome is and people are really yearning for information”, Data Emmanuel Aggrey says.

Preparing media for a challenging task

Ahead of the elections, Abdel Rahman El Mahdi from the human rights organisation SUDIA said there would be limited space for media to report freely on the referendum.

IMS and its partners under the Sudan Media and Election Consortium (SMEC) are training media personnel in Sudan to improve the quality of information and to monitor the role and performance of the media in terms of providing access to different parties and stakeholders involved in the Referendum process.The project, which is funded by UNDP, builds on the lessons learnt from the training and monitoring, which took place ahead, during and after the general election in April  2010 under the auspices of the SMEC consortium, which apart from IMS include SUDIA, Norwegian People’s Aid, Fojo, Arab Working Group and Osservatorio.