Khachatourian: Implications of Sudan’s Referendum

In five months, a new country will join the world community. Official results indicate that 98.9 percent of the population in Southern Sudan approved to secede from the north to create a new country. What most observers feared would cause more violence during the referendum process concluded seamlessly and created a new country based on a people’s right to self-determination. Most world leaders hailed and praised the vote, and Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, welcomed the referendum and