Edward Loboke, a South Sudanese refugee and employee of the public school system in Portland, Maine, spent the last two weekends driving as many South Sudanese refugees as he could fit into his SUV to the South Sudanese Community Center in Arlington, home to the educational non-profit Sudanese Education Fund . He did this so that refugees could register to vote for an upcoming referendum that will decide whether the African country will split into two.
Following a 2005 peace agreement negotiated by the United States, Sudan will hold a vote in January that will determine the former British colony’s fate. Thousands fled the country as violence between the northern and southern regions escalated in the mid-1980s. Those refugees, who have settled all over the world, now have the opportunity to take part in the international voting process if they can prove they are from, or connected to, an ethnic community indigenous to South Sudan.
The Arlington South Sudanese Community Center, 61 Mass. Ave., is one of eight locations in the United States where refugees can register and vote for the referendum that will determine whether or not South Sudan will secede. Since Dec. 6, refugees have been traveling from all over New England, New York and other nearby states to register themselves in Arlington, the only registration center in the northeast. Loboke is a representative from one of the many South Sudanese communities across the country that is taking it upon itself to register refugees for the January vote and to spread awareness and information about the potential secession.
“We are vital,” said Francis Bok, who fled Sudan in 1999 and is currently serving as an official of the South Sudanese government to observe the registration and voting in the Boston area. “We are considered out-of-country voters. Our votes will have a huge impact.”
The international vote is being overseen by the South Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) and will take place between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15. Registered voters must return to the center to cast their ballots.
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