Sudan seems to be popular all of a sudden. It is almost as though everyone in Europe and north America is getting back to the office from their summer holidays and thinking “Goodness! Isn’t the referendum in Sudan due soon? Better do something about it.”

That’s all very well. But the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) had a life of six and a half years and it is a bit rich waking up in the last six months!

It seems pretty clear that the South will vote for independence. Not, perhaps, because the population has weighed up the options and chosen independence. But because no-one seems to have made the case for unity.

The African Union may welcome a new member state next year. But Southern Sudan also risks joining the ranks of poor, conflict prone landlocked states in the Horn of Africa.

As though we needed another one.

JAB