Water is Basic

Registration Now Open!

rsimmons — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:42:28 +0000

Registration for the 5th Annual Carry the Jerry Relay and Basic 5K is now open!

Water For Rubeke

sroese — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:23:44 +0000

Today I returned back to East Africa and our work in the Republic of South Sudan. With each passing year we have become more efficient and rather accustomed to the results of our work. But the work is too crucial to become ordinary.

This is a year of great change! We have survived becoming our own sovereign nation and now the focus is on building: building a people, building a nation, and building a generation.

However, in the midst of it all, it is the basics, like water, that a nation must build upon. That is what we do at Water is Basic, we provide a basic building block to nationhood.

Thank you for staying in the game with the people of South Sudan.

As a year-end gift to you I wanted to share the following story for your joy and encouragement.

Recently one of our supporters returned from a personal pilgrimage to South Sudan to see our work in person. Below is his brief, heartfelt experience of attending the opening of another well in another village.

We begin our sixth year of operations by celebrating a new well. Enjoy!

“We rolled into Rubeke early Tuesday afternoon; the village is the newest beneficiary of the work of Water is Basic in South Sudan. We made the trip to Rubeke to open a completed water well for the residents of this remote community. The well would be Rubeke’s first experience with a localized, clean water source after countless years of devastating effects of consuming non-potable water.

Word got out that the WiB crew had arrived to celebrate and open the well, and a steady stream of villagers from the area approached the well site along the dirt path. A quiet anticipation hung in the air as the villagers approached and expectantly placed their jerry cans at the foot of the well, anticipating the first stream of water to emerge. We observed a steadily increasing line of yellow cans. At one point, a well-dressed woman emerged from a trail and was greeted by spirited shouts and cheers. She assumed a leadership role and assembled the group in a large half moon pattern around the well.

A village elder opened the ceremony delivering a short speech in the native language, and praying an extended prayer of thanks and praise. The well dressed woman spoke to the crowd, and then led a round of singing that ultimately evolved into full unbridled drumming, singing, and dancing by those gathered. This went on for a good 20 minutes.

Then, amidst an atmosphere of dead quiet, the village overseer of this new well removed the locks, and in a few short seconds, locals began pumping water with reckless abandon. They knew exactly what to do. They went right to work, pumping water into jerry cans, some putting big metal buckets under the spigot and tipping them back to drink directly from the container as they laughed and spilled water on themselves and those who came too close.

Another well is complete.”

Thank you for staying in the game with the people of South Sudan. Thank you to those who have become one of our 250 partners committed to giving $1,000/year till the end of 2013.

Building a nation together,
Steve Roese
Water Is Basic

Meet the Lupapa Community

sroese — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:51:12 +0000

On September 2, 2008 the Water is Basic team found themselves completing their third well on the outskirts of Yei, Sudan where the population was swelling with the passage of the Comprehensive Peace Treaty.

But this post war land had no infrastructure and the search for water, any water, had forced people to build their little huts further and further from town. I distinctly remember visiting this area while we were waiting for our rigs to arrive from Thailand. Few places have shaken me like these areas. Dry, hot and desperate, everyone I talked to asked for one and only one thing, water. “Please don’t forget us” and “tell people back home about our need” were constant refrains.

Then on September 2^nd water came pouring out of our third borehole! No longer would pregnant women loose their children to worms before they had even had a chance to see the light of day. No longer would children and grandparents and moms spend all day looking for a small amount of water.

Life, through the engineering of a borehole, had come to the Lupapa community.

And life continues to flow through that very same borehole.

This year I visited the Lupapa community on the third anniversary of the completion of their well and found everything in great working order especially the people of Lupapa. Eyes are clear, stomachs are normal, and hope is in the air as the most basic of elements provides a platform for life and nation building.

The system taught to them by the WiB crew is working like clockwork. Fees are collected; markings are made on Jerry cans to prove payment, an account grows and is available to repair the well and pump and eventually to purchase another well.

This is the model working well three years in.

And now others are coming to this community. They see health and businesses and schools and other sources of nation building are coming.

All because a well was drilled in a time when hope was hard to find.

There are 352 stories like these to be told in South Sudan. Stories of hope lost and hope gained.

We are now planning our next borehole and our next and our next.

A Productive Visit

sroese — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:17:11 +0000

October 4th, 2011 on board Eagle Air flight Yei, Republic of South Sudan to Entebbe, Uganda via Arua, Uganda. Looking over the jagged mountains that our water bottling project is named for.

This visit was short but very productive. Water is Basic is maturing and morphing even as the country changes. I am very proud of that. WiB was set up to serve and help the local leadership, it’s their vision their problem their solution…their new nation.

Accomplished on this trip:

1. Agreement on two year going forward plan where we hope to create and provide 100% of WiB funding from WITHIN South Sudan.

2. Secured Lujulo Springs supplies from Kampala

3. Secured investment funding in Lujulo
4. Are one step away from hiring the factory and marketing director
5. Plan for pilot cell charging business are in place.
6. Meetings will take place tomorrow with Rural Water Commission on establishing program to require financial participation of communities in establishing wells for other communities.

7. Established a base line of $500/ community per well each year.

The establishment of WiB as a local run project with local control was “out of the box” to begin with. They have completed 350 wells in three years…unheard of success!

Now we are looking to do the same as we establish businesses that build the nation, provide employment, and fund WiB…unheard of ideas in this “4th world” nation.

Here is why we are doing this.

Two days ago we visited the people of ITC well completed on 8/21/2009 ( go to waterisbasic.org for photos). As the women and children gathered we began to hear about how they used to walk 2 kilometers to gather water from a small pond. So low was the water in the dry season that they would wait hours to fill a Jerry can. The process of gathering the equivalent of one flush of an American toilet…was an all day adventure! They did this every day, not so they could flush but so they could survive another day!

This is why you should be very proud of your investments in WiB.

Even as we left the compound to head to the airport, a crew was heading out to drill another well. The other rig is waiting up north for the rainy season to end. We are partnering with A Drop In The Bucket to drill 20 wells in Northern Bahl el Gazal.

We are looking for 250 new partners to commit to $1,000/ year until we are internally self funded. Would you help us find those 250 new partners? Would you seriously consider being one yourself?

That’s less than $20.00 per week.
That’s $10.00 per well.
That’s a small investment with a return you won’t find anywhere else.

Thank you for staying in the game with us and the wonderful people of Southern Sudan

Something Ironic

bbuchanan — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 13:00:53 +0000

There is something ironic about asking women and children to walk miles for water so that women and children don’t have to walk miles for clean water.

Huh?

Let me explain.

Recently both of Water is Basic’s rigs and crews took a very much-needed break after drilling for six months in the Aweil region of Northern Bahr el-ghazal in the Republic of South Sudan. In six months they completed 50 wells in an area where no other drilling organization has succeeded. This is a region being overwhelmed with people pouring in from the north, as Sudan splits into two nations.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Southern-Sudanese-Returning-From-North-Challenge-Regional-Government-Aid-Groups-114484099.html

They arrive by train and truck and foot with only the few things they can carry. Water is scarce with many giving in to the heat and drinking from the nearby swamps. This is a very bleak place. According to Atanasio Juma, our chief drilling engineer, people sleep under trees with nothing to lie on or only grass to cover them up as the temperature drops at night. Your gifts to WiB are life to these folks.

DYK? It takes lots of water to drill for water?

We carry two 5000-liter bladders and fill them in a local river or stream, often many miles away. The water is pressurized and pumped down through the drilling pipe to force the dirt back up and out of the hole.

However, in this area on the Darfur border, roads do not exist that will get our vehicles anywhere near a swamp or river.

So…the irony I mentioned at the beginning…the WiB crew had to ask the local people to walk great distances and draw water from the swamps so that they could then drill a water well!

And drill they did, 50 in all and after some rest and rig refurbish they are headed back for more. That is the heart of this team. That is why your faithfulness in giving and telling the story is so important. To a group of women walking through the hot dust to a swamp to collect water, you bring hope.

Of course this all takes money. The good news is that we are becoming a preferred provider for many organizations seeking wells in South Sudan (http://www.dropinthebucket.org, has asked us to drill 20 for them in this same region) we are developing a partnership with a water bottling company that will become a significant funder of WiB in 2012 and we are beginning to work a plan where past well recipients will help fund wells for those who have nothing. These are all steps towards our goal of seeing WiB self funded by 2014.

But we cannot survive on those kinds of funds, at least not yet.

We need you and your friends and coworkers to invest with us in this great work. As one of our long term faithful financial partners commented to me recently, “I simply do not know of a more impactful place to invest!”

I could not agree more.

Hey it really is life saving what we are doing…and today (or any day) that’s a great return on investment.

On behalf of the people of Sudan…thank you.

we get to make a difference!

sroese — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:04:22 +0000

Scary Statistics – Southern Sudan[1]

September 2010


Poverty	50.6% of the population live on less than 2.5 SDG a day. Poverty is highest in Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal state with 75.6% of the population living below the poverty line.[2] 4.3 million vulnerable people will require food assistance in 2010. Of this number, 1.5 million will face severe food insecurity.[3]
Maternal Mortality	One out of seven women who become pregnant will probably die from pregnancy-related causes.[4] 40.6% of mothers do not receive antenatal care at all.[5] Only 10.2% of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants. There are only 13.6% institutional (hospital) deliveries.[6] Contraceptive prevalence is only 3.5%. There are only an estimated 100 certified midwives.[7]
Child Mortality	Although the infant mortality rate has decreased, it still stands at 102 per 1,000 live births. While the under-five mortality rate has decreased, one out of every 7 children will die before their fifth birthday (135 per 1,000 live births).
Immunisation	Southern Sudan has one of the lowest routine immunisation coverage rates in the world. Only about 10% of children are fully vaccinated.[8] Only 28% of children receive measles vaccination before their first birthday.
Malaria	Malaria is considered hyper-endemic in Southern Sudan, accounting for more than 40% of all health facility visits and 80% of household do not have treated bed nets.[9]
HIV/AIDS	HIV awareness stands at 45.1%, however only 8% have knowledge about HIV prevention. More than 70% of women aged 15-49 have no knowledge about HIV prevention.
Water and Sanitation	More than 50% of the population do not have access to improved drinking water. Only 6.4% of the population have access to improved sanitation facilities.
Primary Education	Less than 50% of all children receive 5 years of primary school education. While 1.3 million children are enrolled, only 1.9% complete primary school education. For every 1,000 primary school students there is only one teacher.[10] 85% of adults do not know how to read or write.[11]
Gender	92% of women cannot read or write.[12] Only 27% of girls are attending primary school.[13] A 15 year-old girl has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than completing school.
Displacement	Since the beginning of 2010, an estimated 190,000 people have been displaced by inter-ethnic and armed conflicts in Southern Sudan. In 2009, the figure was 391,000 – more than double the number for 2008 which stood at 187,000.[14]

[1] All data unless referenced are from the Sudan Household Survey 2006 t0 2010.

[2] SSCCSE 2010

[3] ANLA Report 2010.

[4] Based on reporting from WHO 2010

[5] WHO Report 2010

[6] WHO Report 2010

[7] MOH Survey 2009

[8] WHO Report 2010

[9] South Sudan MDG Report 2005, UNDP 2006

[10] UNESCO 2009

[11] Alternative Education Systems Unit in the Ministry of Education, UNESCO 2008

[12] Ibid

[13] SSCSE

[14] OCHA EP&R 2010

Building A Nation Together

sroese — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:46:13 +0000

The following appeared recently in the Sudan Tribune. It reminds me again that we are on a mission. Up to now our mission was emergency water in a time of crises. Now we are building a nation one village, one family one person at a time. If we can eliminate the need for the basics then these resourceful people can get the rest done. Lets remind ourselves not many people get this kind of opportunity in their life time.

We do!

Building a nation together

Steve@water is basic

By Jane Kani Edward

March 5, 2011 — The two decades of civil war (1983-2005) in Sudan had affected many lives and livelihoods in Southern Sudan. An estimated two million people lost their lives; more than four millions were internally displaced, while more others sought refuge in neighboring African countries as well as Western countries. As women all over the world celebrate their contributions and achievements, I would like to draw attention to Southern Sudanese women’s untold and/or forgotten stories of courage and survival during one of the longest civil wars in Africa, and shed light on women’s courage and resilience in difficult and dangerous circumstances. Two important factors motivated me to reflect and uncover the untold, usually forgotten history of women in Southern Sudan. First the story of my paternal grandmother, and some Southern Sudanese women I met in Yei town, Kajiko, and Kogbo villages, in July 1997. Second, casting my vote in the Southern Sudan Referendum on January 9, 2011, prompted me to highlight the experiences of women in conflict situation. The goal of reflecting on women’s untold stories is to recognize and emphasize the role and contributions of non-combatant women to the Southern Sudan liberation struggle.

I traveled from Cairo, Egypt to Yei, Southern Sudan in early July 1997 as part of the Sudan Cultural Digest Project’s research team to research the experience of Southern Sudanese refugees in Northern Uganda and Kenya. I traveled to Yei, three months, after it was captured by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) – with an aim of reuniting with my mother and other members of my family whom I had lost contact with for more than a decade, and possibly to conduct interviews with people in the town. With the help of a fellow Southern Sudanese, I was able to travel to Yei with one of the SPLA commanders and I attended the “Model Development Workshop: Kajokeji and Yei Counties (July 17-19, 1997),” held in Kajiko village. At the workshop, I met Mama Kaziya, Chair of the Women’s Affairs of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and other female participants. Through informal conversations with the Chair and the female participants, I learnt about the struggles, resolve, and capabilities of Southern Sudanese women to simultaneously sustain their families and contribute to the liberation struggle through food provision and preparation, caring for the sick and the wounded as well as developing strategies and survival mechanisms to avoid gender-based violence and other forms of discrimination that were prevalent.

After the workshop, I returned to Yei to meet my mother who came from Kogbo village – sometimes referred to as Khor Levi (named after the chief of the area) along Yei-Maridi road to attend a church convention. On Sunday, I went to the church to meet my mother who barely recognized me. I walked about 14 miles, together with my mother and other women who attended the Church convention, toKogbo village. Kogbo has one of the fertile soils in Yei County. Most of the people who settled there were displaced from the Episcopal Church Mission area in Yei (Hai Mission) and its surrounding areas. They sustained their lives through agricultural production. During my stay I learnt about the difficulties people experienced as they struggled to sustain their lives. Through informal conversations with women in the village who came to visit I learnt of a cooperative program established by women and men of that area, whereby each family in the village had to contribute a fixed portion of its harvest to sustain the SPLA stationed in Yei. They told me about women’s efforts and struggles against all odds to prepare food and other necessities for passing-by- SPLA. Despite difficulties and challenges, women, other members of their families, and neighbors often came together to collect vegetables from their fields – sometimes at night, as well as contribute flour, firewood, and other ingredients needed for preparing meals. Through such collective efforts and cooperation, women were able to provide food and other necessities for the SPLA.

It was during my stay in Kogbo that I came to know about the story of my grandmother, Penina Kanyu’g, her death, and burial from one of my cousins. My grandmother spent almost all of her life in Sereng, one of the villages of Rokon Payam, Juba County. She was a mother of four sons and two daughters. However, all her sons including my father and one of her daughters passed on before her. Therefore, according to my cousin, when she felt ill in mid-1990s there was no single hospital in Rokon as the existing health infrastructure was destroyed. It was impossible to bring her to hospital in Juba due to lack of transportation, and un-accessible roads. Upon her death, there were no men to prepare the grave for her burial as most of them were either dead, fighting in the war front, or fled the area. The only people present were women and a man. Given such a challenge, it was decided that the hut in which she died be set on fire and in the process burn her body. Since burning the dead is not traditionally accepted among the Nyangwara people, the women, however, with the help of the man took upon themselves to prepare the grave and provided my grandmother a dignified burial.

The decision of those women and the man to bury my grandmother confirms women’s courage and determination to uphold some of the most important cultural aspects of their society. It is this kind of courage and commitment that makes those ordinary women extraordinary. The actions of those women further defy the traditionally held assumptions that women are “weak,” “disempowered” and unable to perform or to make crucial decisions in difficult situations.

The second factor that motivated me to reflect on women’s untold stories is casting my vote in the Southern Sudan Referendum. The referendum was held to give the people of Southern Sudan the right to vote on whether they will remain in a united Sudan or to secede. My vote conveyed two messages. First, I voted to honor the memories and sacrifices of my grandmother, father, three brothers, two cousins and maternal uncle, as well as other Southern Sudanese, and women in particular, who died during the war. Second, I voted to ensure that the future Southern Sudan is free of gender-based violence, human suffering, discrimination and marginalization. After all rebuilding a peaceful and prosperous Southern Sudan will not be achievable without the recognition and acknowledgment of the contributions and sacrifices of all people and particularly, the women of Southern Sudan during the liberation struggle.

Dr. Jane Kani Edward is Director of African Immigration Research, &Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of African and African American Studies, Fordham University. She is the Author of Sudanese Women Refugee: Transformations and Future Imaginings, 2007, & numerous articles. She can be reached at: kanilado@yahoo.ca

Water is Basic Update 2/13/11

bbuchanan — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 18:26:04 +0000

Who would have ever thought it possible?

Five years ago when we all began this crazy journey of ordering drilling rigs from Thailand, hiring and training crews, organizing communities and village chiefs and transporting teams across the world’s worst roads, who would have thought that peace would come so quickly and so “peacefully”?

I am now on a plane returning form Southern Sudan where the joy of a new nation being born is around every corner and written across every face. Dancing and parties go on all night and so does the sound of gunfire, although these are bullets of joy being shot into the air.

While history is being made here I write to remind you our work is far from done.

Team A has arrived in the far north on the Darfur border where they just finished the fifth well in this dry and thirsty land. Team B is on the way to join the fun.

This week I meet with the U.S. Envoy to Sudan and GOSS officials in Washington DC.

A nation was born in January and does not become fully independent until July 11th but we are all working hard on getting basic services to the people who must build this nation. Water, electricity, education, and a job, they all bring dignity and hope and a dream for tomorrow, something that has been extremely scares around here for some time.

You need to know that funds at Water is Basic are at the lowest point in more than three years. We remain extremely lean with mostly volunteers working on the US side and a dedicated staff of Sudanese working harder than ever. The drilling teams are venturing further and further away from home base where logistics are a headache and more operations more costly.

We are working on ways to make this work completely self-sustaining by next year but need your support more than ever now. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone that a donation here does the kind of good we only get to be a part of if we are lucky.

We get to build a nation!

Thank you for your continued support.

Steve Roese

Below are a couple of photos of the crews at work on the Darfur border

Press Release from GOSS Mission

bbuchanan — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:35:14 +0000

The following release is from the GOSS Mission in Washington DC. It now appears that history will be made in Sudan and a nation will be born. That process can partially be owned by all who have supported WIB these last four years. Water is so basic that when it is available it provides hope.

The hard work continues though because as the diaspora returns the need for clean water will only increase. Please take a moment to think through how you can assist WIB in spreading the word and raising funds for Darfur and the more than 200 wells we plan to drill his year.

Lets stay the course for Sudan!

Steve Roese

Date: January 18th 2011

Re: Southern Sudan Referendum Polling Results, USA

Dear Sudanese and Friends of Sudan,

We, the Government of Southern Sudan Mission to the United States and United Nations, would like to express our appreciation to the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for their support in conducting a successful, free, fair, transparent and credible South Sudan Referendum in accordance with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In addition, we extend our gratitude to the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau, the United Nations Integrated Referendum and Electoral Division (UNIRED), and the International Organization of Migration (IOM) for fulfilling their obligations accordingly.

The Southern Sudan Referendum could mark the beginning of a new era in Africa. The people of Southern Sudan have waited patiently and tirelessly through difficult circumstances for this promised opportunity to determine the future of the region – whether to become a separate country or remain united with the North.

On January 9, 2011, the first day of the Referendum Southern Sudanese lined up at polling centers across Sudan and in host countries to cast their historic ballots. Over the following seven days, millions of Southern Sudanese turned out to vote. Voters travelled long distances and in some cases through floods and heavy snowfalls. They endured standing in long lines for hours despite very hot weather or freezing temperatures. Southern Sudanese came in buses, vans, cars and by bicycle and on foot. In the United States, the high emotions of both sorrow and joy brought many of us to tears as we observed the polling process. What an incredible moment for the people of Southern Sudan to collectively decide their destiny.

We sincerely regret that Abyei was not able to participate in its own referendum on January 9th as provided by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. We stand in solidarity with the people of Abyei and pledge to work tirelessly to uphold their rights. We look forward to the full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement including Popular Consultation in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile State. In addition, we pray for peace throughout all Sudan, especially in Darfur.

As we prepare to celebrate the results of the Southern Sudan Referendum, we urge the people of Southern Sudan to maintain peace and unity. We have suffered and sacrificed so much to reach this historic occasion. Let us respect one another and recognize that we all have contributed in different ways to the implementation of the CPA, especially when we chose to and continue to choose to live our daily lives in peace with one another. As people from different ethnicity/ tribes and regions within Southern Sudan, let us hold hands as a symbol of strength as we tackle the next challenges that await our emerging country.

If the result of the Referendum is separation, Southern Sudan will be a new country blessed with vast resources, tremendous opportunities and exciting challenges. We now appeal to the Diaspora to return home and assist with development of the country. The skills and experiences you have cultivated outside of Southern Sudan are needed desperately to help build the capacity of those at home; to jumpstart the economy through private investment; and to provide crucial services such as healthcare, education, clean water and sanitation. We all know the satisfaction of living in a home we have built for ourselves, so let us experience the tremendous joy of coming together and building our own country!

In the United States, we are pleased to announce the results of the Referendum for each of the eight (8) polling centers: The cumulative for all eight centers is 98.9 % for Secession and 0.8% for Unity. There are seven (7) invalid and about twenty-nine (29) spoiled ballots, which is a strong indication that the Southern Sudan Referendum civil awareness was delivered appropriately. In addition, the turn out of the nearly 9000 registrants is 96.7% and only 286 did not get a chance to cast their votes. Please note that the Southern Sudanese Community lost three registered potential voters after the exhibition, objection and appeals period. The remaining 283 did not get a chance to make it to their respective registration centers due to various reasons, such as family emergencies, illness, work, misplacing a registration card and extra.

We sincerely thank the people of Southern Sudan for honoring our ancestors’ legacy by participating in the Referendum. Future generations will remember the sacrifices you made to secure a peaceful and prosperous future for Southern Sudan. We look forward to working with you in the weeks and months ahead. We are here to serve, so please do not hesitate to contact us by calling (202) 393-7940 or emailing aaoswaha@gossmission.org / oswaha@gmail.com. To learn more about Southern Sudan, please visit www.goss.org. Happy 2011 and many days to come!

Best regards,

Agnes Oswaha
Cultural, Community and Consular Affairs Officer, GOSS Mission-USA and UN
1233 20th Street, N.W Suite 602
Washington DC 20036
www.gossmission.org

Referendum Announcement

sroese — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 23:28:46 +0000

By Julius N. Uma

January 15, 2010 (JUBA) – The final outcome of Southern Sudan’s

self-determination referendum will be officially announced in Sudan’s

capital, Khartoum on February 14, Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, the

Chairperson of Southern Referendum Commission (SSRC) said on Saturday.

Khalil’s remarks come on the day the week-long polls closed across the

country and in the eight countries where overseas voting has taken

place.

“Given that both the north and south will still be under one country,

its natural that results of such an historic event is announced from

the capital, which is Khartoum. I don’t see any problem with that,”

the SSRC boss told a press conference held in Juba, the Southern Sudan

capital.

Khalil, making his first appearance in the regional capital since

August 2010 lauded members of the commission as well as the referendum

bureau for what he termed spirited efforts that ensured timely conduct

of the historic event.

He said, “the framers of the CPA [Comprehensive Peace Agreement] and

the Interim Constitution allocated very little time for the conduct of

the referendum. As such, the commission and its members were able to

complete the huge tasks within 4 months, yet it was required by law to

take 42 months.”

The SSRC Chairperson, who was flanked by his deputy, Chan Reec Madut,

cited cooperation, harmony and tolerance among the commission

officials as some of the key factors that steered the success of the

referendum.

Voting began on January 9 and ended on Saturday. Counting is expected

to begin with immediate effect. Each polling center will, upon

completion of counting submit results to the sub-county committees,

later to the county committee before it reaches the state referendum

high committees.

The vote counting process, Khalid added, will be done at each polling

center in the presence of both local and international observers.

“It will be the responsibility of the state high committees to submit

results to the referendum bureau, of which results are eventually sent

to the commission in Khartoum,” Khalil clarified.

As of January 14, the SSRC boss said a total of 3,135,000 voters out

of 3,755,000 in Southern Sudan alone had already cast their votes,

around 83%. In the north, he added, 116,000 out of the 62,000

registered voters had voted, while 91% turnout had reported in the

Diaspora voting, which took place in Australia, Egypt, Ethiopia,

Kenya, Uganda, United Kingdom and the United States.

Meanwhile, the commission has given a five-day extension to enable

voters in Brisbane, Australia to complete voting after the process was

halted due to floods.