Over 99 percent of south Sudan votes to separate

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110130/wl_nm/us_sudan_referendum

Over 99 percent of south Sudan votes to separate

By Benham and e Benham And e – Sun Jan 30,

9:07 am ET

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) – South Sudan overwhelmingly voted to split from the north

in a referendum intended to end decades of civil war, officials said on Sunday,

sparking mass celebrations in the southern capital Juba.

Thousands cheered, danced and ululated after officials said 99.57 percent of

voters from the south's 10 states had chosen to secede, according to the first

official preliminary results.

" This is what we voted for, so that people can be free in their own country ...

I say congratulations a million times, " south Sudan President Salva Kiir told

the crowd.

The vote was promised in a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of north-south

conflict, Africa's longest civil war, which cost an estimated 2 million lives.

Kiir, the head of the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement

(SPLM), praised his former foe, Sudanese President Hassan al-Bashir, for

agreeing to the 2005 accord.

" al-Bashir took the bold decision to bring peace. Bashir is a champion and

we must stand with him, " said Kiir, speaking in a mixture of English and the

local Arabic dialect.

" The project has not finished ... We cannot declare independence today, " he

added.

According to the terms of the accord, south Sudan will be able to declare

independence on July 9, pending any legal challenges to the results.

UNRESOLVED ISSUES

Northern and southern leaders still have to agree on their shared border, how

they will split oil revenues after secession and the ownership of the disputed

Abyei region.

" I am so happy. Imagine having schools, no fear, no war. Imagine feeling like

any other people in their own country, " student Santino Anei, 19, told Reuters.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the peaceful vote but told an

African Union summit in Addis Ababa he was still concerned about the unresolved

issues.

Washington's Sudan envoy Gration told Reuters at the summit the " tough

part " of the peace deal was still to come.

" These issues, whether it be borders or citizenship or oil revenues, cannot be

solved unless there is an effort (by north and south) to work together in a

partnership, " he said.

Secession campaigners described the vote as a chance to end years of perceived

northern exploitation. Bashir, who campaigned for unity, later announced he

would accept a separation vote.

Chan Reek Madut, the deputy head of the referendum commission, told the crowd in

Juba almost 3.7 million people in the south had voted for separation, against

just 16,129 for unity. Turnout was 99 percent, he added.

The final combined results, including votes from southerners in north Sudan and

eight other countries, are due to be released in early February.

The commission's website reported on Sunday that incomplete figures showed the

overall vote for separation was 98.83 percent, but said this figure could

change.

(Additional reporting by Lough and Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing

by Heavens; editing by Tim Pearce)

[Guest guest]

The UN new about this war and the genocide that was going on but did nothing. Most of the rest of the world did nothing either, well except make trade deals, often for arms so the slaughter could continue.

While I wish these people well, I'm not sure how it will play out since unless they get international support and arms, they will simply be overrun by the north again.

Now if they will just look off to the west and see what the Sudanese are doing around Darfur.

In a message dated 1/30/2011 1:12:29 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

The vote was promised in a 2005 peace deal which ended decades of north-south conflict, Africa's longest civil war, which cost an estimated 2 million lives.