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| Africa Horn | |
| Sudan passes bill for south independence vote | |
| 2009-12-24 | |
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan's parliament on Tuesday passed a long-awaited bill setting out the conditions in which a
MPs from the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and other southern parties withdrew from the parliamentary session in protest at a clause that would allow diaspora southerners to cast absentee ballots. According to the bill, 60 percent of the southern Sudanese electorate will have to turn out to make the referendum legitimate. South Sudan will split away from the north if more than half of voters choose independence. SPLM deputy secretary general Yasser Arman called the vote a breach of a 2005 power-sharing accord and threatened a boycott of parliament until the legislation was revisited. "What happened today is the worst violation against the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and from today we will not participate in parliamentary sessions until this matter is resolved," he told a media conference. | |
| Posted by:Fred |