You are looking at the picture of Rebecca Kadi, a 115 year old woman who went to cast her vote on Tuesday the 11th of January. On the 11th, Sudan held elections for a referendum for Southern Sudanese secesseion. Amongst those to monitor the elections was former American President Jimmy Carter. Sudan has faced much turmoil, because of the conflicts between the Arabs and black Sudanese that has continued for years causing a 2005 peace treaty which asked for self determination of the southern Sudaneese. Self determination, also a part of the diplomatically followed Geneva Convention, is the back bone for any human rights legislation. Failure to follow it can only create scenarios such as the ones we have seen in Sudan for many years.
It is said that it will take over a week to count all of the votes. There are issues, however, that would need to be resolved before southern Sudan can declare independence in June. Those issues include how to share oil amongst the two nations and where the border line will be drawn. Mm mm mm. This is obviously not going to be pretty, but as always I will keep my ear on the ground for all of you.
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