From Cairo to Canberra to Kansas: Southern Sudanese say “Referendum Oyay”

JUBA, Sudan–Not far from my hometown, in Seattle, Washington, there’s a voter registration center open at 608 Maynard Ave. S., from 9 am to 6pm Monday through Saturday and from noon until 5pm on Sundays. Nope, my fellow Washingtonians are not prepping to participate in some ballot initiative or another. The registration center is for Southern Sudanese people who live in Washington state and who want to participate in determining the future of their homeland.

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) is organizing “Out of Country Voting” in eight countries, so that Southern Sudan’s undeniably far-flung (think Australia to California to the UK) diaspora population. Kudos to the people who organized this effort.

It’s a startling contrast to think of voter registration happening in rainy holiday-season Seattle and at the same time under a tree in villages without electricity in various corners of Southern Sudan. But there you have it: the south’s self-determination vote is historic, and its impact will be far-reaching not only within the borders of Sudan and in its immediate vicinity in the region, but all over the world, where Southern Sudanese are getting the chance to exercise a hard-won right. I for one am humbled by the extraordinary process underway here in the south right now, where the U.N. mission will soon deploy its 24 helicopters once more to deliver referendum ballots around the south (as you may have heard, sometimes even 4×4 LandCrusiers aren’t tough enough to make to some areas). Meanwhile, I’m noticing southern government officials emphasizing the positive at every chance and for the most part resisting the (often understandable) urge to sharply criticize the NCP for truly excessive foot-dragging on talks between Khartoum and Juba to pave a smooth post-referendum path for Sudan’s north and south.

As much as it’s easy to type the words “tensions are running high,” I’d rather focus on a different sentiment: the south’s independence referendum is an incredibly emotional issue for the people of Southern Sudan and for Sudan as a whole, and these emotions are becoming palpable in day-to-day interactions I have here and in political events and public rallies across the south (Josh Kron had a nice NYT piece last week at the 30-day countdown mark that aptly captured the mood of that day).

P.S. A quick explanatory note to any readers who might be based outside of Southern Sudan: “Oyay” is a popular phrase here and it is usually tacked on to anything people tend to like to cheer about: the referendum, for example (see the post’s title above), or the south’s ruling party (“SPLM Oyay!” is a familiar refrain at political rallies etc.) or a prominent public figure in the south (“James Hoth Mai Oyay!” — he’s the southern army chief of staff and folks were cheering for him while he danced onstage at the recent competition in Juba to choose Southern Sudan’s national anthem).