Southern women's group moots conditions for voting

A south Sudan women's group has said voting in the country's forthcoming referendum should be restricted to ethnic southerners. In a statement on last month's peace agreement, the Southern Women's Group for Peace (SWGP) said residency in southern Sudan should not automatically be the basis for acquiring the right to vote. The referendum on self-determination is to be held in six years' time in accordance with the provisions of the Machakos Protocol. The organisation said voting should be restricted to southerners "in the context of a clearly specified southern region". It said a southerner should be defined as a person whose parents' ancestry was traceable to any of the ethnic communities residing in south Sudan since 1820. A referendum law should be part of the final agreement reached between the Sudanese government and the rebel the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which would include the principles and outlines of the referendum processes, the SWGP added. It said that in the event of a ceasefire, the agreement should be guaranteed and safeguarded by international bodies including the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union and the countries involved in the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development mediation. The government and the SPLM are currently negotiating in a second round of peace talks in the Kenyan town of Machakos following the landmark peace deal signed on 20 July.