LIANE HANSEN, host:
In Northern Sudan, few people are happy about the prospect of the country splitting.
NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson is in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. She reports that many Northerners want to know how a divided Sudan will affect their pocketbooks.
(Soundbite of vehicles)
SORAYA SARHADDI NELSON: The fear the Northern Sudanese have about the prospect of division can be felt at the gas stations.
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NELSON: Everyone interviewed at this filling station in Khartoum blamed the referendum for a recent and painful hike in the price of gasoline.
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NELSON: Drivers squabbled with station attendants over the close to one dollar per gallon increase.
Nearby, gas station manager Ehab Hassan says he shares their frustration. He, like every Northerner interviewed for this story, opposes independence for Southern Sudan. Hassan believes gas hikes are just the beginning of the problems for a divided Sudan. He points to rising food prices and persistent double-digit inflation. Hassan says he worries about his children.
What kind of life do you think they will have in North Sudan?
Mr. EHAB HASSAN (Manager, Gas Station): (Through Translator) He says (unintelligible) is a bad future, bad future.
Mr. HASSAN: That's correct, bad future.
NELSON: Such pessimism is widespread across Khartoum. Northerners are quick to blame their woes on the prospect of an independent South. Many here believe fuel prices have risen because most of the nation's oil fields are in the South and would be controlled by the new nation.
Instead, officials and economic experts say the fuel increase is due to the elimination of subsidies by the government, to make Sudan more appealing to foreign investment.
Laura James is an economic expert with the Assessment and Evaluation Commission, which monitors and supports the internationally-backed peace treaty between Northern and Southern Sudanese leaders. She says that Sudan has for years been seeking alternatives to its dwindling oil reserves. And in addition to private sector development, has been working on ways to boost its agriculture.
Dr. LAURA JAMES (Economic/Political Analyst, Assessment and Evaluation Commission): I think perhaps there is a new sense of urgency but plans were in place long before the prospective division.
NELSON: Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is trying to persuade citizens who aren't from the South that the referendum could end the violent clashes that have plagued Sudan for decades. But he and other Northern officials concede the prospect of losing a third of the land and key natural resources is tough to swallow.
Ibrahim Ghandour is secretary of political relations for the ruling National Congress Party.
Mr. IBRAHIM GHANDOUR (Secretary, National Congress Party): We won't be mourning, as the president said. But we won't be rejoicing, as our brothers in the South may do. But we will start a new page.
NELSON: That new page has some who live in the North very worried, especially after President Bashir vowed in recent days to turn Northern Sudan into a conservative Islamic state, one dominated by Arab language and culture.
Non-Arab Southerners living in the North are especially fearful they will be attacked in the coming days by their neighbors opposed to the partition. More than a million Southern Sudanese fleeing conflict and famine in their homeland now live in slums ringing Khartoum.
Polling stations have been established around the city. But fears are prompting many of them to forgo voting in the referendum.
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NELSON: Like here in Jabarona, Southerners here told NPR they had been standing in line for days with their belongings, often fighting with their neighbors for space on the trickle of buses and trucks sent by Southern Sudanese officials to bring them home.
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NELSON: Reverend Ramadan Chan Liol is a Southerner. He also is the general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, and he believes their fears are justified.
Reverend RAMADAN CHAN LIOL (General Secretary, Sudan Council of Churches): People will come out, but of course with fear and we also expect some intimidations and, you know, some restrictions to not to let them go to the polls.
NELSON: Liol says he won't be voting in the North. He is traveling to his hometown to vote.
NELSON: Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, NPR News, Khartoum.