South Sudan Referendum Commission Meets Scott Gration

20 July 2010 - (Khartoum) – The South Sudan Referendum Commission headed by Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil met the US Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration on Monday in Khartoum.

A member of the commission, Prof. Soad Ibrahim Eisa, spoke to journalists after the meeting.

[Soad Ibrahim Eisa]: “We were informed to work day and night, he said if there is 24 hours you are to work more than 24 hours, till we reached ninth of January the designated day and fulfill this mission with transparency, faithfulness and credibility in a manner that may please both northern and southern parties. It should also please unionists separatists. He [Gration] promised to help in this if we prepare ourselves by planning and we are working on our plans which we will present to him and others for help. I think the time is very short, but we are careful to fulfill this task regardless of this time factor. We will double our efforts to fulfill it at designated time.”

Ibrahim assured that they will conduct regular meetings with the American envoy to discuss every step.

[Soad Ibrahim Eisa]: “Of course the time is very limited and we don’t have time to waste. If we finish tomorrow, we will meet him and he is willing to meet us at any time to help in this area. After finishing the registration and preliminary tasks for the committees and else, then there will be a visit to the south to see how the plans are moving in the south. Of course this is a necessity, although there is a committee in the south which is conducting this mission, it is working. But we want to go to the south to see how things are moving. I think the commission is not concerned with secession or unity, we are not going to call for this or that, rather we will carry out the referendum process in a transparent, faithful and credible manner then we will announce the results.”

This is the first meeting between the commission and the US Special Envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration.