Kerry got a written agreement that the referendum vote will happen January 9th as promised [View All]

[karynnj]

(This was significant enough that the Boston Globe thought it important enough to cover)

Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts intends to deliver a proposal from the government of Sudan to the White House and the State Department today that he said could eventually lay the foundation for a new relationship between northern and southern Sudan, which have fought intermittently for decades.

In a telephone interview from the northern capital of Khartoum on the final day of his three-day trip to Sudan, Kerry called the document he was delivering a “forward-leaning, thoughtful set of proposals for discussion’’ for how the south and the north might cooperate after Jan. 9, when the south is expected to vote to become an independent state.

Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, made the trip amid fears of renewed war in Sudan, Africa’s largest country, where some 2 million people have been killed over the years in fighting between the mostly Islamic and Arab north and the Christian and animist African south.
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Kerry declined to describe the document he was carrying in detail but said it was “a new framework for dealing with some of the issues beyond the election, particularly if there is a vote to secede.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2010/10/25/sudan_gives_kerry_proposal_that_could_bring_peaceful_separation/

This was welcomed by the International crisis group that has been working to avert renewed war here:

International Crisis Group’s Fouad Hikmat said Khartoum’s assurance to Senator Kerry is a positive development

“I think it is very good news, and this maybe a reiteration from President Bashir what he just recently said to the Sudanese people through his speech to the national assembly that he is going to work very hard to make sure that the referendum is going to be on time, and that the government is going to respect the results of the referendum provided that it is done in a transparent, free and accurate way,” he said.

However, Hikmat said despite Khartoum’s assurance to Senator Kerry there’s still the problem of Abyei and demarcation of the borders.

“The government is saying that in order to do the referendum there has to be due course in terms of implementing what is the law of the referendum, and at the same time make sure that the borders are demarcated, and the problem of Abyei is resolved. And it doesn’t mean that the assurance that is being given to John Kerry means that these issues are going to be resolved as soon as possible. But if it does then this is a very good step,” Hikmat said.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Butty-Sudan-Kerry-Visit-React-Hikmat-25october10-105655428.html