Training in S.Africa for Southern Sudanese as region prepares for independence referendum

S.African school trains Southern Sudanese

JOHANNESBURG — A South African university is training Southern Sudan government leaders in international law, security and other affairs of state as the region prepares for a 2011 independence referendum, university officials said.

The first 16 Southern Sudanese arrive Sunday to begin a two-month course specially designed for Southern Sudan, J.P. Roodt, a spokesman for the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, told The Associated Press Thursday.

After decades of war, a 2005 peace agreement ended Sudan’s north-south conflict. The referendum for the south’s independence is part of the peace agreement. Next month, presidential and general elections across Sudan — the first multiparty vote in more than two decades — will be closely watched for signs of how free and fair the independence referendum will be.

Leon Mouton, deputy director of the university’s Business School Leadership Academy, said the South African program will help high-ranking senior Southern Sudanese government officials contribute to reconstruction, development and security in their troubled homeland.

“Extensive capacity building, along with economic and infrastructure development, delivery of basic services, and security, is key if South Sudan is to become prosperous, either as part of Sudan or as an independent country,” Mouton said.

Britain’s Africa Educational Trust linked the Southern Sudanese with the South African school and is funding the training, Roodt said.

“We also had several excursions where we met with the South Sudanese government to identify their exact needs and to tailor-make the training program,” Roodt said.

The program is planned to run until 2015.

(This version CORRECTS references to Southern Sudan sted South Sudan.)