The Legal Aspects of the Referendum

As typically alarmist media reports continue regarding the possibility of a relapse into civil war in Sudan, not much attention has (at least in my reading) focussed on the legal aspects of the upcoming referendum and any conflict that follows. If the referendum, as many expect it will, delivers a result in favour of secession is that the end of the matter from a legal perspective? Further, if there is a resort to armed conflict between the north and south immediately after the referendum would that amount to an international armed conflict or a non-international armed conflict? Given Sudan's current treaty obligations, would that characterization have any material effect?