The Brazilian Government welcomes the Referendum on the status of South Sudan, to be conducted from 9 to 15 January 2011, in which the people from the south of the country will choose between the maintenance of the union with the North or the secession and the resultant creation of a new country. The official results will be announced in no more than 30 days after the end of the ballot.

The Referendum is the most important stage of the process to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005, between North and South Sudan, which brought decades of civil war between the two regions to an end.

The Brazilian Government is willing to contribute to the consolidation of stability in the region. In April 2010, observers were sent to the national elections in Sudan, which represented an important step in the peace process. The Brazilian Government has contributed with military officials to the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), established in 2005 to support the implementation of the CPA. Currently, Brazil has 20 military observers, two police officers and two military officials in the Mission. The Brazilian Government has also sent a mission of election observers, formed by two diplomats, to the Referendum, to be opened on next 9 January 2011.