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South Sudan fears war as secession vote nears - US

by Reuters
Thursday, 14 October 2010 07:01 GMT

* Council members discuss idea of limited U.N. buffer zone

* Preparations for two planned Jan. 9, 2011, polls delayed

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Oil-producing south Sudan fears the north may be preparing for war ahead of a referendum on southern independence, the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday.

In a statement to the U.N. Security Council summarizing the 15-nation panel's trip to Sudan last week, U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice confirmed that the president of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, asked for a U.N.-administered 10-mile (16-km) buffer zone along the north-south border.

During a meeting with council members in Juba, the capital of semi-autonomous south Sudan, Rice said that Kiir had "warned that he fears the north may be preparing for war and may be moving troops southwards."

Rice's remarks to the council, a council envoy told Reuters, appeared aimed at bolstering the case for a possible Security Council decision in the near future to temporarily boost the number of U.N. peacekeepers deployed in Sudan.

The council has yet to hear from Khartoum on how it views the idea of a U.N. buffer zone, she said, though diplomats told Reuters they expected the north to respond coolly to the idea.

"Most council members are skeptical, to say the least, of the feasibility of a force that could line the entirety of the border," Rice told reporters. "Troops don't exist, it couldn't be constituted quickly enough."

"But there is serious discussion of alternative models that might focus on those areas along the border that are most vulnerable or at high risk of violence, and where civilians may be most at risk," she added.

BEHIND SCHEDULE

The Security Council, she said, is now awaiting a concrete proposal from the U.N. secretariat and UNMIS peacekeepers, who monitor compliance with a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of north-south civil war in Africa's largest country.

Rice said preliminary discussions among council members had showed there was an "openness" to the idea, though it would have to be developed further.

The referendum on southern secession and a separate plebiscite on whether the disputed oil-rich Abyei region should be with the north or south are supposed to take place on Jan. 9, 2011. But preparations for both votes are behind schedule.

Earlier on Thursday, north Sudanese leaders said it was impossible to hold the Abyei referendum on time and that it could be delayed or settled without a vote. [ID:nHEA453571]

Analysts fear that a delay of the southern secession vote could lead to new fighting, though the leaders of the north and south insist they do not want war.

Council diplomats said that UNMIS, which has some 10,000 troops and police in Sudan, might need to be temporarily expanded to police border hotspots. UNMIS is separate from the 22,000-strong force in Sudan's conflict-torn western Darfur region, known as UNAMID.

The predominantly Christian and animist southerners, embittered by the conflict and perceived northern exploitation, are widely expected to vote for secession.

Khartoum, the capital of the largely Muslim north, wants to keep the country united.

Troops from both sides have clashed since the 2005 accord, most recently in the contested Abyei oil region. Each side has accused the other of building up troops near their shared border as the southern referendum approaches. (Editing by Eric Beech)

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