Do Not Register If You Plan To return To South, Urges Official

16 November 2010 – (Khartoum) – The government of Central Equatoria state is urging its citizens in northern Sudan who will be returning to southern Sudan not to register in order to avoid losing the sixty percent threshold.

The chairperson of Mobilization and Information Committee of Central Equatoria State’s Referendum Task Force, Mister Francis Barson Yousa is in Khartoum leading a high-level delegation from his state to sensitize and mobilize people on the referendum.

Mister Barson who is also the state minister of Information and Communications met with Chiefs and the Central Equatoria State Caucus in the National Assembly on Saturday and visited IDP camps on Sunday. He spoke to SRS in Khartoum.

[Francis Barson Yousa]: “I met more than fifty chiefs of Central Equatoria State in the Chiefs’ Council, and they were asking many questions and the whole nucleus of their discussions was on repatriation, they want to go back home. The referendum as far as the registration is already in; I told them you cannot register if you are going away from Khartoum, because if you register and then you don’t vote, then it will be a disaster for us. The threshold of “60 %” will be a problem for all of us.”

Mister Barson said the main challenge that hinders the repatriation of IDPs from Khartoum back to the south is the lack of funds.