Release Date: 2010-04-14

A New Africa Policy Institute Brief, Sudan: Referendum Countdown, argues that the stage is set for confrontation with Southern Sudan withdrawing its presidential candidate from the 11 April 2010 general elections citing adverse irregularities by Khartoum.  In retaliation, President Omar al-Bashir threatened to postpone the 2011 referendum that could see the South break away from the North and which Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir says is more important than the elections. The sounds the war drums for the upcoming independent referendum for the South, itself plagued by ethnic tensions. This brief examines the April elections in the context of the tensions within and between the South and the North ahead of the 2011 referendum. Read More...