Mike Malloy

[Don Smith]

Kerry warns of tougher sanctions over south Sudan referendum
US Senator John Kerry on Friday warned of tougher sanctions against Sudan if the governments of north or south placed obstacles in the way of a January 9 referendum on southern independence.

US Senator John Kerry, pictured here on March 2010, on Friday warned of tougher sanctions against Sudan if the governments of north or south placed obstacles in the way of a January 9 referendum on southern independence."I want to be clear, we want the government (Khartoum) to tackle the referendum and respect the decision of the south," Kerry told reporters after arriving in the Sudanese capital.

"If one of the parties choose to go on the wrong track on the coming negotiations in Addis Ababa, there are many options available to us, to raise up sanctions, to move within the international community to address our concerns," he said.

A new round of north-south negotiations is set for the Ethiopian capital on October 27, following the announcement on October 12 of the failure of a first round of talks.

Before leaving Washington on his three-day mission to assess the strife-torn country's readiness for the independence referendum, Kerry said Sudan was "at a pivotal moment."

"Every reliable source indicates that Southern Sudan will vote for separation, dividing Africa's largest country and taking with it some 80 percent of known Sudanese oil reserves," he said in a statement.

"America must help North and South Sudan find a peaceful path forward," added Kerry.

The senior US senator has travelled to Sudan once before, in April 2009, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

On Saturday Kerry is expected to visit the southern capital of Juba to meet officials there before returning to Khartoum for further talks.

Before leaving the United States he said leaders in Sudan's north and south faced a "critical choice" between "peaceful coexistence or a return to chaos and war."

He urged them to overcome obstacles to implementing a 2005 peace agreement that ended the country's brutal 22-year civil war.

Semi-autonomous south Sudan is struggling to recover from Africa's longest civil conflict, which left an estimated two million people dead and was fuelled by ethnicity, ideology, religion and resources such as oil.

Kerry is the lead author of legislation in the US Congress to cement Washington's engagement with Sudan after the referendum, including certain types of US aid for security forces and civil aviation.

The United States has banned virtually all trade with Sudan since 1997.

Sudan has been on the US sanctions list as an alleged supporter of Islamic militant groups and over the situation in its war-torn western region of Darfur.

http://www.alternet.org/rss/breaking_news/305822/kerry_warns_of_tougher_sanctions_over_south_sudan_referendum/

"Every reliable source indicates that Southern Sudan will vote for separation, dividing Africa's largest country and taking with it some 80 percent of known Sudanese oil reserves," he said in a statement.
The division of Somalia is also on the table.
Anyone following the labrynth of East Africa strife is aware that the only decent port in Somalia is in the area now being groomed for "independence".
Another coup for corporate control of the wealth.
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