Post date: Jan 09, 2011 3:59:37 PM
U.S. senator John Kerry and actor George Clooney, in Sudan for the independence referendum, say issues of Abiyei and Darfur still need to be addressed.
JUBA, SUDAN (JANUARY 9, 2010) REUTERS - As millions of jubilant south Sudanese voted on Sunday (January 9) in an independence referendum expected to see their war-ravaged region emerge as a new nation actor George Clooney and U.S. senator John Kerry, in Juba, called north Sudan to take the opportunity to improve its relations with the international community.
"Just as this moment represents the potential of a new era for South Sudan, it also represents the potential of a new time for the Republic of Sudan, for the north," senator Kerry told journalists. "This is an opportunity that president Obama has made clear: it's there for the asking, there for the taking. This is a moment where the north, by making key decisions, has an opportunity to revitalise its own economy, to restore its relationship with the world and with the United States, and frankly we would like to see that happen because a stable north is in the interest of the south and a stable south is in the interest of the north and both are in the interest of the world."Kerry and Clooney, talking to journalists after mingling with dancing and singing crowds in Juba, called for urgent resolution of the issues of Abyei and Darfur.
"Discussions are taking place today, yesterday and will be on going regarding Abyei. Abyei is not being left behind, Abiyei is not being forgotten, we intend to resolve the issues of Abyei over the course of the next weeks and months and I hope sooner rather than later. Similarly discussions are going on regarding Darfur. General Gration will be leaving to go there in a couple of days and we will be significantly focused on it," Kerry said.
A bitter dispute between the north and the south remains over the ownership of the central Abyei region, where there were reports of clashes involving Arab nomads on Friday (January 7) and Saturday (January 8).
"This can only be a success if Abyei is addressed and if Darfur is addressed," said George Clooney.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest civil war, fuelled by oil and ethnicity, between the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most people follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.
In the north the prospect of losing a quarter of the country's land mass -- and the source of most of its oil -- has been greeted with resignation and some resentment.
Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who campaigned for unity in the run-up to the vote, has been making increasingly
conciliatory comments and this month promised to join independence celebrations, if that was the outcome.
U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday a peaceful, orderly referendum could help put Sudan back on a path toward normal relations with the United States after years of sanctions.