Sudanese Christians have long awaited the 2011 independence referendum that promises finally to give their southern region a voice in the Muslim-majority nation. But ironically, Sudan’s first democratic election in 24 years (to be held April 11, unless opposition parties boycott as threatened) may derail their hopes.
Observers believe the presidential election this spring will test whether the strife-torn nation will hold together until the January 2011 nation-wide vote over unification. The vote is mandated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 by the northern National Congress Party and the southern Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement.
“It is my understanding that most, if not all, of the church leaders of South Sudan want to secede,” said Faith McDonnell, director of the Religious Liberty Program at the Institute on Religion and Democracy. However, she believes the election of a Northern candidate friendly to the South could result in a vote against secession.
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Christianity Today: Election Jitters in the Sudan
Sudanese Christians have long awaited the 2011 independence referendum that promises finally to give their southern region a voice in the Muslim-majority nation. But ironically, Sudan’s first democratic election in 24 years (to be held April 11, unless opposition parties boycott as threatened) may derail their hopes.
Observers believe the presidential election this spring will test whether the strife-torn nation will hold together until the January 2011 nation-wide vote over unification. The vote is mandated by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 by the northern National Congress Party and the southern Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement.
“It is my understanding that most, if not all, of the church leaders of South Sudan want to secede,” said Faith McDonnell, director of the Religious Liberty Program at the Institute on Religion and Democracy. However, she believes the election of a Northern candidate friendly to the South could result in a vote against secession.
Read it all.