Southern Sudanese in Egypt turned out on Sunday to vote in the first day of the referendum on southern Sudanese independence. While voting is set to go on for seven days, ending on Saturday 15 January, most registered voters decided to visit polling stations on the first day.
“No one’s going to stay home on a day like this,” Marko, a 33-year-old student, said.
Crowds gathered outside the three polling stations in Cairo, congratulating each other on the long-awaited day on which they will decide on their national destiny. “We’ve wanted this since 1953,” said Absheba, a 34-year-old laborer.
An assistant representative to the National Election Committee told Al-Masry Al-Youm that, of around 3300 registered Sudanese voters in Egypt, at least 60 percent turned out yesterday.
Most international polls show that the vast majority of southern Sudanese will opt for secession, and that seemed to be the case outside Cairo’s polling stations. “God willing, the result will be 100 percent secession,” said 33-year-old Cairo University law student Joseph Makoko.
Many voters expressed a desire to return to southern Sudan once secession is guaranteed. “My bags are ready and I’m going back once the results are in!” Marko joked.
Many southern Sudanese in Egypt are refugees who left their country due to oppression and discrimination by the dominant northern neighbor. “A lot of things need to happen for us in the south. We need education for all, a fair distribution of wealth, and to feel equal in our own country,” said John Metmodat, a 45-year-old election observer.
The polling stations were serviced and protected by security and government institutions. “We thank security forces who stayed all day until the end. Voters were also bused here by a Sudanese organization called Waraba,” said Weck Yousif, a referendum observer at the Ain Shams polling station.
Weck greeted friends exiting the polling stations with the words “Hello, a thousand congratulations my friend.” Voters carried the flags of southern Sudan, while ululations could be heard inside the stations.
Metmodat, echoing the thoughts of many others visiting the polling station, said, “It took us about six years after the 2005 Peace Agreement, but we feel it is time now."
