LRA In WES May Interfere With Conduct Of Referendum, SPLM Member Cautions

13 July 2010 - (Khartoum) – A member of the SPLM in the National Assembly has cautioned that the presence of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Western Equatoria state may interfere with the conduct of the self-determination referendum.

The Nagero County MP in the National Assembly, Pasquale Clement Batali spoke to Sudan Radio Service in Khartoum on Sunday.

[Hon. Pasquale Batali-English]: “If the referendum is going to go, when the
L-R-A is still attacking people, we are not going to have a good referendum and if we don’t have a good referendum nobody would recognize the results. So that is why I am urging the Government of Southern Sudan to be very serious. If they want the referendum to take place in a very free and cool atmosphere, the only solution is to flush out the L-R-A. We have to be very frank and serious; even we are wondering what is happening to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, which used to be a very determined force, the agility, the seriousness, and the aggressiveness which used to characterize the S-P-L-A where is it?”

Pasquale Clement Batali was speaking to Sudan Radio Service in Khartoum.