South Sudan Officials Prepare for Referendum Result

17 January 2011

Southern Sudan Referendum Commission staff members prepare the official counting of votes on South Sudanese independence, 16 Jan 2011

The head of United Nations in southern Sudan, David Gressly, arrived in the region before the north and south signed the peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war and set up the autonomous regional government in Juba.

He says the southern Sudanese have been preparing for independence and its aftermath ever since.

"A lot of work was done over six years in a land that was very fractured, many armed groups operating in 2005 that have now been brought on board, very little infrastructure, no roads, no regional government. All of that was created from scratch (from nothing)," Gressly said.

But he and most people working here acknowledge much remains to be done.

Mou Ambrose Thiik works on governance for Germany’s Friederich Ebert Stiftung Foundation.

"The major priority is to get the governance right,” said Thiik. “It is very important because that would set up a good foundation for the democratic system that we would like to have."

Officials note that public administration is inefficient, particularly at local levels, due to a lack of experience and training. They say it will take time to institute transparency and good governance.