Ms. Bilbao expressed her wish that conflicts ongoing elsewhere in the world might follow this example, and stated that "failure to recognise minorities and their rights is at the root of all conflicts".

She stressed that the referendum, an overwhelming majority vote in which has resulted in Southern Sudan becoming the 193rd state of the United Nations "has brought an end to a conflict that lasted 20 years and cost two and a half million lives. A complex society with ethnic and religious differences and serious economic disputes has put an end to the violence that was tearing it apart, and has done so through a committed, democratic procedure".
She congratulated the northern and southern Sudanese people and the UN “because on this occasion they have indeed fulfilled their peace-keeping mission”.