The spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) said his party is “panicked and disturbed” over the referendum commission’s lack of progress ahead of the scheduled 9th January vote.
Yien Matthew Chol told VOA that, despite promises of full implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has “consistently” blocked efforts to hold the referendum as agreed.
Mr. Yien mentioned that the SPLM is worried over the current situation that there is no clear move adding that even when SPLM sometimes reached agreements with the NCP, they just at anytime run away and cling to the positions which are anti-fair to the referundum.
Provisions of the CPA allow residents in south Sudan to decide in a referendum whether to be part of Sudan or secede and become an independent nation.