Chicago Bulls Star Luol Deng to register to vote today on Southern Sudan Independence

Chicago Bulls Star Luol Deng, a Sudanese native, will register to vote in the upcoming Southern Sudan Referendum at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 17th, at the Southern Sudan Referendum voting location at 3245 N. Ashland in Chicago. Deng and leaders of Illinois’ Sudanese community will also address the media.

The referendum will determine whether the region of Southern Sudan will become an independent nation – the world’s newest – or remain part of Sudan. The referendum on Southern Sudanese independence  is part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended decades of war between northern and southern regions of Sudan.  Two million people died – and approximately four million were displaced – during the conflict.  Violence continues to plague Sudan’s Darfur region.

Thousands of refugees from the conflict live in the United States – many of them in Illinois.  Individuals originally from Southern Sudan – including Deng – are eligible to vote in the referendum on independence.  The Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, working with the International Organization for Migration, has set up a Chicago voting location where Sudanese from throughout the Midwest are registering to exercise their right to vote.

More information on the Southern Sudan Referendum may be found at: http://www.southernsudanocv.org/

More information on the Sudanese Community Association of Illinois may be found at www.SudaneseCommunityCenter.org

The event is open to the media and the public.