USIP Sends Observers to Monitor South Sudan Referendum

January 3, 2011

The Academy’s Linda Bishai and Rule of Law’s Tim Luccaro traveled to Sudan between January 3-24, 2011 to participate as short-term observers in the Carter Center’s Observation Mission for the South Sudan Referendum. Bishai and Luccaro joined the 60+ Carter Center delegation members who covered 24 of the 25 states of Sudan during the referendum polling and counting process (only West Darfur was not covered). Bishai was assigned to cover North and South Darfur, states with particularly challenging security issues as observers could only visit centers outside the capital cities via UNAMID helicopter flights or convoys with force protection.  Luccaro was assigned to Jonglei state, which is one of the more remote and less developed states in the South and which was experiencing ongoing local conflict related to cattle raiding during the referendum period.  Polling occurred for seven days (January 9-15) and centers in the South experienced exceptionally high turnout, reaching or approaching 100 percent in many districts.  In the North, voters were considerably fewer, with only 50 percent turnout in South Darfur.  The South Sudan Referendum Commission announced its official results on February 2nd, indicating that 99.7 percent of voters had chosen secession.  South Sudan’s independence will not become official before July 9, 2011, when the interim period of the Comprehensive Peace 

View photos from the Observartion mission in Sudan. 

More from USIP on Sudan

• USIP Conducts Second Referendum Violence Prevention Workshop in Rumbek
• Ahead of the Southern Sudan Referendum in January, USIP begins a series of Violence Prevention Workshops
• Sudan's Referedum Results
• Watch USIP experts discuss the January 2011 Sudan referendums, popular consultation, what to expect after the polling, and more.
• Visit the North-South Border Initiative (NSBI) Resource Library