Over 99 pct in Southern Sudan vote for secession
JUBA, Sudan (AP) — Southern Sudan's referendum commission said
Sunday that more than 99 percent of voters in the south opted to
secede from the country's north in a vote held earlier this month.
The announcement drew cheers from a crowd of thousands that gathered
in Juba, the dus ty capital of what may become the world's newest
country.
The weeklong vote, held in early
January and widely praised for being peaceful and for mee ting
international standards, was a condition of a 2005 peace agreement
that ended a nor th-south civil war that lasted two decades
and killed 2 million people.
The head of the commission's southern bureau, Justice Chan Reec
Madut, said Sunday that voter turnout in the 10 states in the south
was also 99 percent. He said only some 16,000 voters in the south
chose to remain united with northern Sudan, while 3.7 million chose
to separate.
In northern Sudan, 58 percent of voters chose secession, said
Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of the referendum commission. He
said some 60 percent of eligible voters participated.
Southern Sudanese voters in eight foreign countries overwhelmingly
supported secession, he said, with 99 percent support for secession
among the 97 percent of voters who participated.
In the United States, he said, more than 99 percent of the 8,500
southerners who cast votes chose secession.
"These results lead to a change
of situation," said Khalil after he read the results. "That change
relates only to the constitutional form of relationship between
north and south. North and south are drawn together in indissoluble
geographic and historic bonds."
Referendum commission officials did not announce an overall
percentage total for all votes cast. The commission's website said
Sunday that 98.8 percent of voters chose secession, but noted that
the figure may change.
If the process stays on track,
Southern Sudan will become the world's newest country in July.
Border demarcation, oil rights and the status of the contested
region of Abyei still have to be negotiated.
Southern Sudanese president Salva Kiir also gave remarks at the
results ceremony, speaking mostly in Arabic.
"We are still moving forward,"
Kiir said in English. "The struggle continues."
Kiir thanked Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for his leadership
and for "making peace possible."
Kiir said the south will declare independence on July 9, but not
before.
"We are not going to put down the flag of Sudan until July 9," he
said.
The event marked the release of the first official primary results
from the self-determination vote. The results will not be finalized
until February.
But Sunday's announcement did not stop people from celebrating.
"I'm very happy because today we have determined our destiny," said
Anna Kaku, 42, who dressed up for the ceremony and joined the
spontaneous dancing that followed Kiir's address. "We fought for so
many years, and now we have done this peacefully."
Source: AP
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Submitted by: Ali Omar Hassan
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