Sudan leader vows to accept vote

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Sudan’s leader flew to the nation’s south on Tuesday as the region prepares to vote on secession and pledged to respect a division of the country into two new states if that’s the choice of the people.

The rare visit by President Omar al-Bashir came just five days before what’s expected to be an overwhelming vote for separation, fueled by mistrust and resentment after decades of conflict between the two sides.

Bashir made clear that he prefers a united Sudan, but he reaffirmed a vow to recognize a new southern nation if that’s the outcome at the polls.

“Whether unity or secession, people should respect it (the results) in good spirit,” said Bashir in a speech to southern leaders in the statehouse building in the fledgling southern capital of Juba.

“We agreed that we would keep security and stability,” said the Sudanese president of his meeting with southern leader Salva Kiir.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he’s “very encouraged” by Bashir’s “constructive” remarks but indicated wariness that Bashir, who’s been indicted for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, would follow through.

Bashir’s statement Tuesday and in recent days “are all indicators that this is moving in the right direction, at least today,” Kerry told McClatchy in Khartoum.

Kerry, who’s planning to stay in the country through the referendum, also cautioned the government and southern Sudanese leaders not to try to use force to affect the outcome of the referendum.

“Both sides have to live up to certain standards. There can’t be support for proxy militias. There can’t be underhanded mischief,” he said.

This was Bashir’s first trip to the south since national elections in April. Despite a vocal call for unity in Sudan’s northern state television, his northern party never attempted a national referendum campaign in the face of the staunch southern secessionism.

In recent days the Sudanese leader’s tone has become increasingly more conciliatory, and seemingly more open to the expected choice of separation.

The referendum was agreed to in a U.S.-brokered peace deal Bashir’s government signed six years ago with the southern-based Sudan People Liberation Movement rebels, ending what at the time was Africa’s longest-running conflict, during which an estimated 2 million died.