Nytimes: Vote in Sudan seems ‘likely’ to be peaceful

People returning from northern Sudan waited last week near Aweil, in southern Sudan, for food from the World Food Program. (nytimes.com)

Jeffery Gettleman of the New York Times has covered Sudan quite extensively these past couple of years.  I hope he is correct in this assessment.

But what, really, are the chances that the independence referendum in southern Sudan on Jan. 9, the culmination of a peace process that ended decades of civil war between north and south, will set off another one?

It seems the chances are slim and getting slimmer.

True, Sudan is a vast, poor country with a long track record of conflict. Arms are easy to get here and militias roam just about every corner of the country. The referendum will indeed be delicate because the south will most likely vote (by about 99 percent) to secede, splitting the largest country in Africa in two and taking with it most of Sudan’s oil.

But as the clock counts down toward voting day, despite earlier prognostications of a delay, there are more and more signs that things will go smoothly.

via Secession Vote in Sudan May Be Peaceful – News Analysis – NYTimes.com.