Senator John Kerry, who has worked for months
to prevent an outbreak of renewed civil war in
Sudan, watched yesterday as millions in southern
Sudan lined up to vote for the creation of an
independent country in a largely peaceful — and
historic — referendum.
“To be present at the potential birth of a nation
and to see the exuberance and the emotion and
the gratitude in the people at the grass-roots level,
it ’s very special,’’ Kerry, who heads the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said in a telephone
interview. “You can’t help but be touched by that.
It made me proud of what our country has done
to make that happen. ’’
The Massachusetts Democrat has traveled three
times to Sudan since October, relaying carefully
worded messages from President Obama ’s
administration aimed at staving off a new
outbreak of violence. A decades-old conflict
between the north and south has already taken
the lives of some 2 million people.
So far, it appears that Kerry’s efforts — along with
the work of other envoys from the United States,
Europe, and Africa —have worked. Despite some
skirmishes in the border town of Abyei, dire
warnings of a potential explosion of ethnic tension
appear to have been overblown.
The weeklong referendum began despite
assertions from some analysts that not enough
preparations had been done.
“They were flat wrong,’’ Kerry said by telephone
from Jerusalem, where he stopped to have
dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, on his way back to Washington.
Much of Kerry’s efforts in Sudan have centered
on presenting the Obama administration’s offer of
incentives to Arab leaders of the north, including
removal from the state sponsors of terrorism list,
to encourage them to accept the loss of a third of
their territory and a significant portion of their oil.
Yesterday, Kerry seemed optimistic that the
possibility of renewed war had been averted.
“I think the fundamental judgment of both the
north and the south is that war will not benefit
either of them, ’’ he said. But he acknowledged
that thorny issues remain, such as demarcation
of borders, determining citizenship, and sharing
of oil revenue.
“There is potential for misunderstanding, for
mistakes, for bad politics,’’ he said.
Kerry said the successful referendum in the south
has the potential to change the dynamics in the
entire war-torn region, as well as in Darfur, an
area in western Sudan where a separate
insurgency against Khartoum was crushed by
government-backed Arab militias that launched
extermination campaigns that have been widely
viewed as genocide.
He said the peaceful vote in the south could
bolster peace in Darfur, providing momentum to
peace talks and helping the international
community single out those who have been
dragging their feet on a peace agreement.
“I believe Darfur can be resolved,’’ said Kerry,
who traveled to the troubled region on Friday.
Yesterday, Kerry marked the historic moment
with a speech that quoted Scripture at a packed
cathedral in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, a
region the size of Texas that is poised to become
the world ’s newest country.
“As a Catholic and person of faith, and person in
public life, I can’t help but feel the relevance of
what brings us here to this place of worship and
what brings us to the challenge of building a
nation, ’’ he told a standing-room-only crowd.
Kerry arrived in Sudan on Tuesday and spent
two days with leaders in Khartoum, the capital of
the mostly Arab north, which has tried to impose
Islamic law on the mostly Christian and animist
South. Ever the diplomat, Kerry praised the
leaders of the north yesterday, saying: “The
north, to some degree, stayed out of the way,
which was critical. ’’
Yesterday morning, Kerry visited the mausoleum
of John Garang, the southern rebel leader who
articulated a democratic vision for Sudan who
was killed in an airplane crash in 2005, in Juba.
Then he toured polling stations, talking with
people who had waited in line all night to vote. At
the Kator Cathedral, he sat beside Salva Kiir, the
president of southern Sudan, and gave Kiir a
cowboy hat.
“Good luck to you all and godspeed on the
journey ahead,’’ he told the audience.
Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2011/01/10/kerry_hails_peaceful_independence_vote_in_southern_sudan/
to prevent an outbreak of renewed civil war in
Sudan, watched yesterday as millions in southern
Sudan lined up to vote for the creation of an
independent country in a largely peaceful — and
historic — referendum.
“To be present at the potential birth of a nation
and to see the exuberance and the emotion and
the gratitude in the people at the grass-roots level,
it ’s very special,’’ Kerry, who heads the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said in a telephone
interview. “You can’t help but be touched by that.
It made me proud of what our country has done
to make that happen. ’’
The Massachusetts Democrat has traveled three
times to Sudan since October, relaying carefully
worded messages from President Obama ’s
administration aimed at staving off a new
outbreak of violence. A decades-old conflict
between the north and south has already taken
the lives of some 2 million people.
So far, it appears that Kerry’s efforts — along with
the work of other envoys from the United States,
Europe, and Africa —have worked. Despite some
skirmishes in the border town of Abyei, dire
warnings of a potential explosion of ethnic tension
appear to have been overblown.
The weeklong referendum began despite
assertions from some analysts that not enough
preparations had been done.
“They were flat wrong,’’ Kerry said by telephone
from Jerusalem, where he stopped to have
dinner with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, on his way back to Washington.
Much of Kerry’s efforts in Sudan have centered
on presenting the Obama administration’s offer of
incentives to Arab leaders of the north, including
removal from the state sponsors of terrorism list,
to encourage them to accept the loss of a third of
their territory and a significant portion of their oil.
Yesterday, Kerry seemed optimistic that the
possibility of renewed war had been averted.
“I think the fundamental judgment of both the
north and the south is that war will not benefit
either of them, ’’ he said. But he acknowledged
that thorny issues remain, such as demarcation
of borders, determining citizenship, and sharing
of oil revenue.
“There is potential for misunderstanding, for
mistakes, for bad politics,’’ he said.
Kerry said the successful referendum in the south
has the potential to change the dynamics in the
entire war-torn region, as well as in Darfur, an
area in western Sudan where a separate
insurgency against Khartoum was crushed by
government-backed Arab militias that launched
extermination campaigns that have been widely
viewed as genocide.
He said the peaceful vote in the south could
bolster peace in Darfur, providing momentum to
peace talks and helping the international
community single out those who have been
dragging their feet on a peace agreement.
“I believe Darfur can be resolved,’’ said Kerry,
who traveled to the troubled region on Friday.
Yesterday, Kerry marked the historic moment
with a speech that quoted Scripture at a packed
cathedral in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, a
region the size of Texas that is poised to become
the world ’s newest country.
“As a Catholic and person of faith, and person in
public life, I can’t help but feel the relevance of
what brings us here to this place of worship and
what brings us to the challenge of building a
nation, ’’ he told a standing-room-only crowd.
Kerry arrived in Sudan on Tuesday and spent
two days with leaders in Khartoum, the capital of
the mostly Arab north, which has tried to impose
Islamic law on the mostly Christian and animist
South. Ever the diplomat, Kerry praised the
leaders of the north yesterday, saying: “The
north, to some degree, stayed out of the way,
which was critical. ’’
Yesterday morning, Kerry visited the mausoleum
of John Garang, the southern rebel leader who
articulated a democratic vision for Sudan who
was killed in an airplane crash in 2005, in Juba.
Then he toured polling stations, talking with
people who had waited in line all night to vote. At
the Kator Cathedral, he sat beside Salva Kiir, the
president of southern Sudan, and gave Kiir a
cowboy hat.
“Good luck to you all and godspeed on the
journey ahead,’’ he told the audience.
Source: http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2011/01/10/kerry_hails_peaceful_independence_vote_in_southern_sudan/
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