Official: South Sudan lawmakers may vote to secede

[September 02, 2010]  NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A former top Southern Sudan official says the south's parliament may vote to secede from the Khartoum-based north if an independence referendum scheduled for January is delayed.

John Duku, Southern Sudan's former mission chief to Kenya, said Thursday that the oil-rich region can take such action under the terms of a peace deal signed in 2005 to end the north-south civil war. Southern Sudan does not have an embassy in Kenya but Duku was the equivalent of ambassador until March.

Duku is working on Southern Sudan's referendum campaign but is not a member of the government.

In Juba, Southern Sudan' capital, Minister of Presidential Affairs Cirino Hiteng Ofuho said Duku's views do not represent those of the government.

[Associated Press]

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