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SUDAN: Referendum Violence Prevention Workshop Kicks Off

  1. Posted on Saturday 20 November 2010 - 08:42
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    RUMBEK, November 20, 2010 (CISA) -A workshop focusing on skills to prevent referendum violence is underway at AFEX in Rumbek, bringing together over 30 participants mainly from Lakes State.
    The three-day workshop is being implemented by the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).
    Speaking to Good News Radio on Friday 19 at the workshop venue, Linda Bishai, a Senior Program Officer at USIP, said that the workshop is considering three areas, one of which is democracy and citizenship with focus on rights and responsibilities.
    The other component is skills for resolving conflicts, in view of promoting negotiation, mediation and styles of conflict. The workshop will also consider examples of other countries that have had a referendum on unity or secession, including a look at the possible triggers for violence.
    Linda expressed hope that the participants will help spread the skills acquired during the workshop to the rest of the community, bringing about a wider understanding of how violence can erupt and ways of managing such violence.
    Linda further said that the team has conducted a similar “referendum-oriented” workshop in Juba last October, adding that the workshop in Rumbek comes out of the need to get out of the capital city into the local community.
    However, Linda admitted that one workshop or two has limited impact to the community.
    Linda emphasized the rights and responsibilities of Southern Sudanese, insisting on the importance of active participation in the referendum through voting at the referendum, and “staying engaged about political decisions and holding their elected officials accountable, being involved and exercising their rights.”
    South Sudan is widely expected to vote for independence in January’s referendum poll, which was agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal that ended over two decades of north-south conflict and there is fear that the South Sudan verdict will be disputed by the North.

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