Cast your votes for complete independence from the north.

I am a native of south Sudan, Torit, Eastern Equatoria state, and would like to say the following to those who know little about south Sudan.

South Sudan is a huge land, inhabited by more that 500 ethnic groups, that was kept apart from each other since independence January 1st 1956. They have been fighting for their rights as citizens of Sudan. The main reason for that division lies on the system of divide and rule.

Sudan is a multi-cultural country, but the north, or rather the ruling party, rules the entire country under Islamic Sharia law. This law does not include those non-Muslim. In other words, in order to be a Sudanese, one must become a Muslim. Given the multi-cultural diversity of the country, this is a nightmare.

The country Sudan belongs to all Sudanese and therefore, because of multi-culture, and traditions put together to form what we call the Sudan, it must be ruled by secular laws for inclusiveness,otherwise there will be no room for peaceful co-existence.

The country is now divided more than ever before along ethnic, religious and race line. Every piece of land that makes the Sudan is complaining of exclusion, discrimination, racist and political neglect etc.

All Sudanese must put aside all their differences in order to keep the country united, otherwise, if the north insist on Islamic sharia laws, then the south has no option, but to secede and become an independent states under secular laws, which they believe will accomodate everybody regardless of religion, political affliation, or ethnic group. After all, democracy demands tolerance.

2 million lives has been sucrificed in the south in the last civil war that began in 1983 and has ended in January 2005 and we believe that was enough to conclude that Sudan can only enjoy peace if the north agree on unity in diversity under secular law, where the capital Khartoum will be without Islamic sharia, in order to accomodate non-Muslims.

There is no single individual in the south who is thinking to cast his/her vote for Unity of the Sudan, because of the experience since independent 1956. Under the peace agreement signed in 2005, the north must develop the south in order to make unity attractive to the people in the south, but the north has not done that up to now. We can now conclude that the people in the north has devorced the south, and we are now ready to cast our votes for complete independence from the north and become first class citizen of your own country.