WASHINGTON, July 29 (KUNA) -- The U.S. affirmed on Thursday that it is working hard with officials in Juba to prepare for the referendum in South Sudan, due in January.
State Department Spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters that there is "a lot of work to be done to create the right conditions for the referendum to be successful." He indicated that border demarcation "is one of those issues. We have been working hard on that for some time," hoping it can be resolved before the referendum.
"South Sudan is entitled to a referendum in January, and we hope that it will happen on schedule," he remarked.
Crowley stressed that "Sudan itself needs to cooperate. There are things that Sudan needs to do to help pave the way for a successful referendum." "Sudan can play a role in this border demarcation. So if Sudan works cooperatively with the international community and South Sudan, these things can be resolved," he affirmed. According to Crowley, "it will be better for the process if there is a clear border demarcation that paves the way for whatever decision South Sudan will make." He noted that "rather than trying to put conditions on the referendum, it would be far better for Sudan to cooperate fully, resolve the issues." He added that there are "a number of them that need to be resolved prior to January, but we believe that these issues can be satisfactorily addressed so that the referendum can happen in January as is planned." South Sudan will hold an independence referendum on whether or not it should remain as a part of Sudan in January, which is part of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). Also a simultaneous referendum will be held in Abyei on whether to become part of Southern Sudan. (end) si.rk KUNA 292223 Jul 10NNNN¬