Rwandans residing in Sudan have been urged to remain calm and stay clear of any trouble as the country votes in a referendum that might lead to the creation of the world’s newest nation.

In an exclusive interview with The New Times, The head of Rwandan Diplomatic office in Sudan, Joseph Rutabana said that, Rwandans in both Southern and Northern Sudan distance themselves from Sudan’s political issues.

"What they need to do is to remain calm and not intervene in Sudan’s issues we think that everything will be stable” he said.

"I want also to assure all Rwandans that I have spoken to different people in Juba and the information am receiving is positive that the process will be peaceful”

More than four million people are registered to vote in the one week process.

The vote is the result of a peace deal that ended decades of civil war between the mostly Muslim north, and the Christian south. The two sides fought a civil war that claimed over two million people from 1983 to 2005.

Meanwhile the Director General of the Diaspora in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Robert Masozera disclosed that his department is coordinating with Rwandan mission in Sudan to update all Rwandans with information pertaining to the Sudan’s referendum.

"We in charge of Diaspora we are following up that referendum through coordination with our Rwandan mission in Sudan to obtain the updates and briefs that we would be informing our people both in country and in Diaspora,” he told The New Times.

Ends