News and vignettes
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South Sudan
Kong Tim has just registered to vote in the Southern Sudan independence referendum, scheduled for January 9, 2011, six years after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ended the north-south civil war in Sudan. At 79 years of age, nearly half of Kong’s life has been marred by the war.
In a country devastated by civil war for almost half of the last century, the government has no accurate information on many of its citizens. The upcoming independence referendum is already complicated enough, but how to ensure that those registering to vote actually have the right to do so?
Katherine Morbe (left) and Khemis Hassan (right) at the Kator Payam voter registration centre in Juba are charged with this role. They are “community identifiers”, and have been working at this centre every day since the registration started. They know everybody in their district, they say, and so it is these social links that ensure that the residents of Hai Kosti can break through the bureaucratic barrier, and obtain what is possibility their first piece of formal identification in their life.
Know thy neighbour.
Peter, an SPLA soldier. Tongping, Juba.
Somewhat of a whirlwind decision coming to Southern Sudan. Two days ago, I had applied for my Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) travel permit, a visa that lets you within Sudan’s borders, but without jumping through the hoops of the Khartoum bureaucracy.
As soon as the visa was in my hands, I had bought the next flight out of Nairobi bound for Juba, the capital of this semi-autonomous state, and ready for the final days of voter registration in the upcoming independence referendum.
Arriving in Juba, I was soon on the back of a boda-boda, the notion of the motorcycle taxi imported—like much else in the region—from Uganda.
My arrival coincided with the final of Miss Malaika Southern Sudan, a sort-of beauty pageant comprising girls from each of the ten states walking a cat-walk, donning outfits ranging from Western evening wear to their traditional dress and customs.
A far cry from the Khartoum government as we enjoyed Kenyan beers—forbidden by the Sharia law of the north—under the eye of former rebel soldiers. Welcome to Southern Sudan.
