Many of them were not happy with the government’s handling of the issue and were reluctant to accept the result of the referendum in which 98.83 percent of people in the south voted for separation.

Sudanese President Omar Bashir announced that he accepted the referendum’s result. However, he pledged political support to the new state soon which comes into effect on July 9, as per the terms and conditions set by the 2005 peace agreement.

A number of Sudanese intellectuals contacted by Arab News expressed their fears about the political and economic future of North Sudan following the separation of South Sudan, which has been fighting for independence for the last 50 years.

Journalist Mohammed Taher said the Sudanese government had forsaken its rights in South Sudan without showing much resistance.

“The government had raised the slogan of Jihad (holy war) and instigated young men in the north to sacrifice their lives to preserve the country’s unity. But finally, the government agreed to give up South, totally neglecting sacrifices made by the people in the North,” Taher said.

Many Sudanese fear that the North would face economic difficulties for not being able to benefit from the South’s oil resources. The North would play an important role in exporting oil through its ports.

“I am afraid that North Sudan would face a lot of economic difficulties in the future as South Sudan currently owns the oil resources which constituted one of the main sources of North Sudan’s income before the referendum,” Taher said.

Kamaluddin Ahmed, another Sudanese journalist, said the northern government did not give enough guarantees to convince the south to remain united. “The government’s policies have distanced the southerners as they were not given any important role in the administration, especially in Darfur,” he said.

According to Ahmed, North Sudan is heading for more political tensions with the South, especially because of a number of outstanding issues which have not been resolved by both sides, especially the issue of Abyei region. He described Abyei as one of the flash points that could trigger a war between the two states.

Engineer Omar Al-Haj was pessimistic about the future of Sudan being a multicultural country. He said the separation of South would encourage other regions to follow the same path. He also believed that the Sudanese government had failed to strengthen the country’s unity.

Salim Othman, a Sudanese surgeon in Riyadh, said people in the North could have coexisted peacefully with their compatriots in the south. “But the government was not ready to accept Southerners,” he said, adding that the decision to implement Shariah was the main reason that led to the division.

Othman believed that the new state in the south has the potentials to achieve greater success and stability, especially because of Western economic and political support. “The southerners wanted to prove their identity and that their struggle did not go in vain.”