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Quote: Sudanese remit more funds as prices spike Sunday, 09 January 2011 01:51 by AHMED EL AMIN DOHA: People from North Sudan here have begun remitting more funds to their families back home as prices of essentials, including petroleum and cooking gas, have gone up and new taxes have been imposed ahead of the referendum in the South of Sudan that begins today. “We have limited income but now we have to send at least 25 percent more than we used to send to our children in Khartoum every month for their education and basic expenses,” said a Doha-based working Sudanese woman from the North. She said she and others from North Sudan here fear that prices might keep spiraling back home straining their finances as it is believed the referendum might lead to secession of the South from the North. Prices have been soaring in the North of Sudan due to fears that the South which controls most of Sudan’s oil resources might secede, she said. A man from South of Sudan this newspaper spoke to yesterday, Shoal Deng, meanwhile, said he was extremely jubilant as what he would be witnessing today until January 15 (a reference to the referendum) would be historic. “I hope to see the birth of my beloved nation—a nation where we could live and breathe freely without suffering stress and without having to be dictated to by alien ideology (a reference to North),” Deng said. “Since 1956 when Sudan gained independence we have been living as second-class citizens,” he said, determined to vote for secession in the referendum that kicks off today. South Sudan vote Northern Sudanese here are meanwhile divided over President Omar Al Bashir’s interview to Aljazeera Arabic channel on Friday. Those opposed to him say that the blame should go the Islamists if the South secedes, while those who are pro-government say that if the separation takes place, Islamic Shariah should be applied more strictly in the North. Al Bashir told Aljazeera on Friday that the Nile water sharing deal that was signed in Egypt in 1929 should be re-inked with South Sudan if the secession becomes a reality. He obliquely hinted that although the South controls much of Sudan’s oil resources, the new country (if it is born) would be dependent for a while on the North since it severely lacks infrastructure and technology. “We are ready to cooperate with them in helping them in infrastructure building and providing them technology to build their nation,” Al Bashir said. People from North Sudan here are also upset that the South could establish diplomatic links with Israel. But those in the south say since Palestine is not an African country, they were least bothered about Tel Aviv’s atrocities in Palestine. Deng also said English could be the official language of the South if the secession takes place and it would not be a member of the Arab League. “But we will keep good relations with Arab states,” he said quoting Keir, chief of South Sudan Liberation Movement.