国际英语新闻：Voter registration for south Sudan referendum begins

"I was keen to register my name since day one. I'm keen to express my opinion in the coming referendum and I will work to urge all my brothers to register. I'm confident in the southerners ' desire to register their names because they are aware of the importance of the referendum."

The voter registration process is the first procedural step towards the referendum, which is broadly believed to come out in separation of south Sudan which suffered a two-decade civil war with north Sudan.

The voter registration is scheduled to continue from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1, while the referendum campaign is scheduled to begin on Dec. 7 and the final list of the voters is set to be published on Dec. 31.

The southern Sudanese people are expected to head for the voting boxes on Jan. 9, 2011 to decide whether the region should remain united with north Sudan or secede to establish an independent state.

The referendum constitutes one of the main items in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), inked between north and south Sudan in 2005, which ended a two-decade civil war between the two sides.

The Sudan government partners, the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), are facing many barriers, in particular concerning referendum of the country's disputed oil-rich area of Abyei, which is to be conducted coincident with south Sudan referendum.

Until now, the two sides have not agreed on members of the Abyei referendum commission and the identity of the voters who have the right to vote in the referendum, where two population groups share the Abyei area including the southern Sudanese tribe of Dinka Ngok and the northern Sudanese Arab tribe of Miseria who move with their cattle through the area for pasture.