* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
This blog is written by Ben Carter, Communications Manager for World Emergency Relief. He recently returned from a trip to South Sudan where he spoke to communities about their hopes and fears ahead of the forthcoming referendum on independence.
At the close of registration last Wednesday over 3 million voters had registered to take part in the referendum for independence for South Sudan. After more than 20 years of civil war the 2005 Peace Agreement brought stability and opportunity to one of the poorest regions in the world. There is optimism amongst the ordinary South Sudanese that independence will cement these gains and help the country to develop into a thriving nation. But peace is far from certain and both North and South are preparing for war.
Far away from Khartoum and from the disputed oil rich district of Abiye, the subsistence farmers and cattle herders of the Imontong Mountains long for emancipation from poverty and war and it is this that drives them to support an independent nation.
Mother of 6, Regina, lives in the remote village of Logire, Ikotos County in South Sudan. Like almost everyone in the region Regina was forced to leave her home during the long conflict.
"The village was bombed by the North and we fled to the mountains," said Regina. "When we returned, the village was burned down and everything had been destroyed."
Villagers like Regina not only had the civil war to contend with. The notorious Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), originating from Northern Uganda, cut a swath through South Sudan mutilating, massacring and kidnapping locals as it went. The LRA was only finally pushed out of the country in 2009 but rumours of links with Khartoum and a possible return to the region persist.
Regina is optimistic about the outcome of the referendum and the prospects that this brings. "We want to determine our own future," she said. "Then we will be able to provide for ourselves at last."
Whether independence, the likely result of the referendum, will benefit people like Regina remains to be seen but South Sudan, with some of the worst development indicators in the world, desperately needs to move forward. There is just one doctor for every 500,000 people and over 80% of the population survive on less than a dollar a day.
Paul Upal is a trainee teacher who worked on the voter registration drive. As the chair of a local referendum committee he and his team had to walk for miles, climbing remote mountains to locate and register a dispersed population. He and his team want to ensure that as many people as possible have their voices heard.
Paul is in no doubt what the result of the referendum will be.
“It will be a vote for independence I am sure. I hope that the new government will then be able to build the schools and medical centres we need.”
Local State Legislative Assembly member Tobiolo Alberio Oromo also sees independence as the only way forward. Oromo was a chaplain in the Sudan People's Liberation Army which became the ruling SPLM party.
"This period of peace has seen real progress for the people here," said Oromo. "But there is much to be done. Doctors, teachers, administrators and many other educated people were wiped out in the war and we have yet to replace them. The North will not help us, they are not building schools, hospitals or roads and so it is down to us to do this for ourselves."
But the North is unlikely to let the South go without a fight. Allegations of vote buying are circulating already and there have been clashes around the border, with the South accusing the North of bombarding targets in the greater Bahr el-Ghazal area on several occasions in an attempt to stir up violence.
In Logire, far removed from the border and disputes over oil, village chief Satero Okima believes that there is every reason to be optimistic. "Our hearts are clean," he said. "We don't have a grudge with anyone. All we want is peace."
For the people of Logire, and for millions of people in South Sudan the future depends on whether the politicians and generals share this point of view.
