By Deng M. Koch

CANBERRA, 22nd July 2010, (Gurtong) - Among the senior Australian government officials present were Jon Richardson, Director  East, West and Regional Africa Section, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; James Hall, Director, North, East and West Africa Section, Australian Aid - AusAID; Michael Maley and Erik Sholte, Special Advisors, Australian Electoral Commission and Stewart Cambell, Chief Executive Officer Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade.  The community representatives were led by Barnabas Bol Kuot who is the Chairperson of the South Sudanese community of Australia and Ambrose Nhial Mayar his Secretary who presented a document for the meeting and elaborated on important areas pertaining to the referendum and on their need for support by the Australian government. The community representatives gave the officials from the Australian government a background of South Sudan’s liberation struggle and the importance of the up-coming referendum to all the South Sudanese.

On the issue of government assistance towards the referendum process, the Australian government officials highlighted the need for such discussions to be undertaken at governments’ level and thereby only a formal request by the Government of South Sudan for assistance could be acted upon. Australian law permits the Government to provide such assistance but only on the basis of an official request from concerned governments, in this case, the Government of South Sudan. This was emphasized by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) advisors present in the meeting who stressed that these types of exercises needed completely clear mandate; that it must have a clear authorization from the Government of South Sudan.

The delegates were informed that the Australian government was already playing an important role of supporting the promotion of peace and stability in the war-torn country by supporting the implementation of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the country’s more than two decades of civil war.

The Australian government is also assisting the region in support for women’s health and maternity programs. Nonetheless, the Australian Government is waiting for a clear invitation from the Government of South Sudan, before they can offer further assistance.

Plans are underway for the Australian AID delegation to visit South Sudan which is likely to take place in about two weeks’ time. The delegation will go to Juba where they will meet with Government officials and also discuss with other locally based Australian institutions about how preparations for the referendum were ongoing and to also gain a better understanding of the effect of the upcoming referendum.

In the meantime, it was resolved that the South Sudanese Community of Australia needs to undertake a series of community meetings before the next Canberra meeting planned for early August. The community meetings will discuss the format for carrying out the referendum, including setting up the secretariat for data collection. The secretariat will be comprised of representatives of all Southern Sudanese states, the lost boys Association, My referendum, SPLM youth league, SPLM Chapters, community leaders and South Sudanese community at large.

The planned August 10 meeting will be an information exchange meeting on the findings and experiences of the delegation to South Sudan as well as an update on the registration process. Mariano Deng Ngor, the Government of South Sudan Head of Mission in Australia will be invited to this meeting.