Southern Sudan lawmakers reject 2008 census results
JUBA – South Sudan lawmakers rejected on Wednesday the results of the fifth population and housing census which put the number of southerners at 8,260, 490.
According to the census results announced on May 21, the total of Sudan’s population is 39,154,490. The southerners constitute 21 percent of the national population. Also, some 520,000 southerners are living in northern Sudan.
Mr. Isaiah Chol Aruai, the Commissioner of South Sudan Centre for Statistics and Evaluation (SSCCSE) briefed the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly on the details of the census in the semi-autonomous region which includes 4,287,500 Male and 3,973,190 Female.
The commissioner told the legislators that the omission of ethnicity and religion in the form had been raised before printing of the forms but after four days the presidency changed its position and accepted its exclusion.
He further told lawmakers that the age of 4,213,041 of the counted population in the South starts from 17 and above. That means the other half of Southerners population are under 17 years.
Sudan conducted its fifth Population and Housing Census, a milestone in the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), from April 22 to May 6, 2008. It was the first all-inclusive census for people of southern Sudan since Sudan became independent in January 1956.
The conduct of the census-taking had been hindered by many problems in southern Sudan and South Kordofan. Moreover, political forces and rebels in Darfur called on the government to postpone it until the settlement of the armed conflict in western Sudan.
The number of Southerners in the northern Sudan is one of litigious points between southern Sudan and the central census body. Juba complained that the numbers of Southerners in the North turned out less than expected. Also it expressed surprise regarding the increase in the population of Darfur since the 1993 census.
Dr. Luka Tobekana Monoja, chairman of southern Sudan census committee and minister of cabinet affairs stated that national central bureau statistic declined to give GOSS their raw material data including number of enumeration who were involved.
More than half a dozen legislators spoken in favor of rejecting the census results and it was agreed that a committee should be formed to formally outline the reasons behind this decision.
Some SPLM legislators expressed skepticism about the willingness of the NCP to implement the CPA.
Martin Taco Moy urged his peers to unilaterally announce the independence of South Sudan state even before the 2011 referendum.
Moy said that the talk about making unity attractive “is a waste of time”. His position was received with long around of applause.
However the parliament speaker James Wani urged the members to show restraint reminding them of the need to observe the CPA terms of reference.