First Vice President and President of the Government of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, said he cannot call on southerners to vote for unity in the absence of development in the south. He said the north has failed to make unity attractive for southerners. SPLM leading member, Deng Alor, called for what he described a "peaceful divorce" between Northern and Southern Sudan. Alor said the remaining time for South Sudan Referendum is insufficient to make unity attractive, pointing that the Government of National Unity did not make any developmental projects in the south.
Alor's criticism came during a symposium on Unity and Self-Determination in Sudan, organized by the UN Mission in Sudan on Tuesday in Khartoum. Meanwhile, a member in the National Congress Party, Ghazi Salaheddine, accused SPLM of failing to govern the south adding that 'not holding elections on time would be a betrayal of the peace deal'. He went on to say that South Sudan Referendum 'will not take place unless through an elected government'.