SUDAN-SOMALIA: Referendum outcome worries Somalis in South

SUDAN-SOMALIA: Referendum outcome worries Somalis in South

JUBA, 10 January 2011 (IRIN) - The question on the minds of many
Somalis and other Muslims living in Southern Sudan is: should the
ongoing referendum result in secession, what will happen to them?

"We are worried about our future after secession because Somalis are
considered pro-Northern Sudan because we are all Muslims," Ahmed
Mohamed, a Somali businessman in Juba, capital of Southern Sudan, told
IRIN.

"I am from Somaliland [a self-declared independent republic in
Somalia], which has a lot of similarities with the Southern Sudan, but
we are Muslims. Southern Sudanese people have sensitive thoughts about
Islam, because they consider it a tool used for their oppression by
the Northern Sudan government in the last decades."

Ibrahim Abdalla Sheikh, an imam at a mosque in Juba, said he hoped
Muslims were not in any danger.

"More than 30 percent of the Bari community in Southern Sudan are
Muslim and we hope nothing will happen to us whether or not the South
becomes an independent state," he said. "Of course Islam is the
largest religion in [Northern] Sudan, but in the South we are the
minority."

It is expected that the Southern population will vote overwhelmingly
for secession in the referendum that began on 9 January.

There are an estimated 5,000 Somalis living and working in Southern
Sudan. Many have businesses, mostly dealing in food and fuel.

Mohamed Ali, a Somali shopkeeper in Juba, said: "We are worried that
if Southern Sudan separates from the rest of Sudan, the Southerners
may say, 'Somalis have taken our businesses', as has happened in South
Africa."

However, Dr Barnaba Marial Benjamin, Minister of Information for
Southern Sudan, assured the Somalis and other Africans in the region
they would be safe.

"Somalis and other Africans who have businesses here will have
nothing to worry about whether we get our independence or not," he
said.

Somalis fleeing the civil war at home have established businesses in
many parts of Africa, particularly in Kenya. Many Somalis have
suffered xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

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