Registration Progressing Well, Says Referendum Bureau

24 November 2010 – (Juba) – The Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau says that the referendum registration exercise is going well across the region.

The chairperson of the South Sudan Referendum Bureau Justice Chan Reech addressed the press in Juba on Tuesday.

[Chan Reech]: “Regarding the referendum registration we could say in general terms that it is going very well across southern Sudan. To date we haven’t received any adverse reports. Some places that I have visited like Eastern Equatoria, Western Equatoria, the registration there was going very well, the turnout was wonderful. We also have some reports from other states of southern Sudan and the reports are very positive they say the turnout was very good and they are registering. There are some few centers which do not have network and it is very difficult at this point to pinpoint the actual figures but my department of operations is working round the clock. This afternoon we will have at least a rough figure of what has happened.”

Justice Reech also said that inaccessibility of many areas has made it difficult for the bureau to communicate effectively.

[Chan Reech-Eng 2]: “The challenges we are facing so far one of them is communication; how to get the information from the centers is still problematic but now with the Thurayas that we have just acquired it would be possible to assemble this. I have said that it is not possible to get statistic on a daily basis but we will try our best to do it on a weekly basis. The other problem is some of the areas in southern Sudan are inaccessible because of rain, the roads are flooded even if there are vehicles it is very difficult to get to those places.”

Justice Chan Reech addressed the press in Juba on Tuesday.