KHARTOUM (Reuters) – South Sudan must embrace democracy if it wants to succeed as a new nation after Sunday’s referendum on independence, former US President Jimmy Carter said yesterday.
Southerners will face disillusionment as the euphoria of independence dies down and the harsh realities of building a state from scratch sink in, Carter, head of the referendum’s largest international observer mission, told Reuters.
“I don’t think the (south-south) reconciliation process can continue unless there’s a strong move in the south towards democracy,” Carter said on the eve of the vote.
“That would require a consummation of the promises made for a new constitution and then for honest and fair elections in the best framework for democratic principles.”
South Sudan President Salva Kiir has reached out to southern opposition parties and offered amnesties to militia leaders, most of whom have accepted. But Carter said fresh polls must be better than the flawed April elections to preserve peace.
“If there is a move towards autocracy, domination, deprivation of human rights — that would be a catastrophe,” he said.
Ecstatic southerners are celebrating what they see as the last step on a road to freedom after decades of north-south civil war ended in a 2005 peace deal.
