The NCP accused the SPLM of discouraging southerners who were living in the north of the country from registering, as the SPLM threatened not to recognize the referendum if its demands were not met. Southerners in the North were reluctant to vote because of fears of being uprooted from their homes. Muslims in the border provinces of the South also expressed fear of a campaign of violence that could be unleashed as a consequence of the referendum. Many feared a return to civil war, should the referendum fail because of the increasingly heated rhetoric. Along with Chad, Sudan sought to secure the border area ahead of the referendum.