2005 ஆம் ஆண்டிலிருந்து தொடங்கப்பட்ட சுயநிர்ணய வாக்கெடுப்பு என்ற கரு தை மாதம் 2011 ஆம் ஆண்டில் நடக்கலாம் என எண்ணப்படுகின்றது.

ஒரு பக்கம் அரபர்கள் மறுபக்கம் ஆபிரிக்கர்கள் என பிளவு பட்டு பல காலங்களாக நடந்த உள்நாட்டு போரில் இலட்சக்கணக்கில் மக்கள் இறந்தனர்.

இன்று சூடானில் மக்கள் பதிவு ஆரம்பமானது. அனேகமாக இந்த சுயநிர்ணய வாக்கெடுப்புக்கு பின்னர் நாடு இரண்டாக பிரியும். இதற்கு முன்னால் இருந்த பல தடைகள் நீக்கப்படுள்ளன.

முக்கியமாக அமெரிக்காவும் அதன் நேச நாடுகளும் அதிகாரத்தில் உள்ள சூடான் நாட்டையும் அதன் தலைவர்களையும் போர்க்குற்றங்களில் இருந்து மன்னித்து விடுவது என்பதே.

Sudanese Register for Secession Vote

the largest country on the continent, is on the verge of splitting up, with the south about to vote on whether to secede from the north after decades of war, mistrust and marginalization.

On Monday a major step was taken in that direction — voter registration — and judging by the mood here in the capital of southern Sudan, the differences seemed irreconcilable.

“We’ve been mistreated for years,” said Zachariah Stephanos, a university student.

“They haven’t shared our wealth equally,” said Jacob Khor, a security guard.

“We’re ready to be on our own,” said Moses Taban, an election official.

The long-awaited referendum on southern Sudan’s independence, set in motion by a 2005 peace agreement to stop one of Africa’s worst civil wars, is scheduled for Jan. 9, potentially bringing an end to the nearly one-million-square-mile experiment called Sudan, which for many troubled decades served as a bridge between the Arab and African worlds.

In Juba, lines of expectant voters snaked through the slums and spilled onto the streets. People waited patiently under a beating sun to stamp a thumbprint in the registrar’s book and walk away with a voting card.

There are still many questions — and nagging doubts — about whether this referendum will be held on time. Northern Sudanese politicians have long been accused of employing stall tactics, whether toying with United Nations peacekeepers about getting into Darfur, the troubled western region, or keeping their word on treaties.

The southerners, many of whom are former bush fighters, are not exactly known for their efficiency. The preparations for the referendum are far behind schedule and the timeline before the vote has been drastically shortened, with little room for error. Complicating matters, the north-south border still has not been demarcated, with bitter disputes about the most lucrative oil-producing areas.

But Western diplomats and political analysts say the writing is on the wall — in indelible ink. South Sudan will soon be a separate country, they expect, whether the referendum is on time, or is peaceful or not.

Juba is hardly waiting, and it feels as if something big is about to happen here. The town is plastered with political posters — “Separation=Peace,” “The Final Walk to Freedom,” “I Love New Sudan.”

Even private businesses are trying to cash in, like Feeder Airlines, whose slogan is “Your flight with us is an investment to your baby nation.”

That baby is growing in every direction. The streets are clogged with traffic, including new BMWs and fat, shiny Hummers. Construction is going on everywhere — cranes, cement trucks, bulldozers, new furniture stores, new office blocks, new minimarts — as if racing against the clock. And just in case anyone here is not keeping track, there is a clock in downtown Juba showing the countdown to the referendum, in bright red digital numbers, down to the minute.

“This is the one opportunity South Sudan has waited for,” Salva Kiir, president of the southern Sudan regional government, said Monday.

This seems to be the hour where the veterans and youth come together. Those like Mr. Kiir and Lual Diing Woll, a presidential adviser who registered to vote on Monday, can barely contain their excitement about getting the right to split off from the north, their sworn enemy, which they fought from malarial swamps and jungle redoubts for decades.

“I am a separatist,” Mr. Woll said. “We gave unity a chance. It didn’t work. It was fake unity.”

The young are energized, too, idealistic, dreamy, seeing independence as the antidote to all their troubles: the stinking piles of garbage all over Juba; the schools held under trees because the south still lacks resources; the menacing packs of young men in wraparound shades, toting machine guns. The latter are the south’s security forces, who are still on war footing despite the peace treaty between the northern government and southern rebels more than five years ago.

Since then, the south has been semiautonomous, running most of its own affairs. Southern Sudan is different in culture and religion from the northern part of the country, with Arab and Muslim influences predominating in the north and animist and Christian beliefs in the south.

Most analysts do not expect a major conflict to break out over the referendum. But with the majority of Sudan’s oil in the south, many find it equally hard to believe that the north will simply let it go. Things here are uncertain, but jubilant at the same time.

There are joyous reunions every day at Juba International Airport, which not so long ago received only a handful of military and humanitarian flights. Now it is an emerging commercial hub, with up to 80 flights a day.

John Chol arrived on Sunday after a long trip from Australia, where he had been living as a refugee.

“I haven’t seen my cousins for 14 years,” he said. “They’re out there, waiting for me.”

He grabbed his suitcase and breezed toward the glass doors. His face was a map of happiness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/world/africa/16sudan.html?_r=1&hp

இன்றைய ஐ.நா.வுக்கான அமெரிக்க தூதுவர் சுசான் ரைஸ் (Susan Rice) ஒரு முக்கிய பங்கு வகிக்கின்றார்.

இவர் ஒபாமாவின் நண்பரும் ஒரு மனித ஆர்வலரும் ஆவர்.

இதில் இருந்து தமிழினமும் ஒரு அரசியல் பாடம் கற்கலாம்.

ஐ. நா. திறந்து வைத்துள்ள ஒரு சிறிய இடைவெளிக்கால், நாமும் எமது மீதான சிங்களத்தின் போர்க்குற்ற ஆதாரங்களை, காணமல் போனோர் விபரங்களை அனுப்புவோம்.

நாளை இந்த சூடானின் வாக்கெடுப்பு வெற்றி பெற்றதும் நாமும் இதை ஒரு தமிழர் சுயநிர்ணய வாக்கெடுப்புக்கு வழிகோலும் என நம்புவோம்.