Sudan referendum :

Thousands vote for new dawn

SUDAN: Southern Sudanese began voting yesterday in an independence referendum expected to lead to the partition of Africa’s largest nation and the creation of the world’s 193rd UN member state.

South Sudanese President Salva Kiir proclaimed the event an “historic moment” for his people as he was among the first to cast his ballot in the regional capital Juba.

Thousands of jubilant south Sudanese had queued through the night to be among the first to cast their ballots for a “new dawn” after five decades of devastating conflict with the north.

As polling opened at 8:00 am (0500 GMT), hundreds of voters were already waiting at many voting stations to seize their opportunity to have their say on whether the impoverished south should finally break way from rule by Khartoum, AFP correspondents reported.

“We are standing in the queue to step forward to independence,” said David Akol, as he waited with hundreds of others to vote at the memorial to veteran rebel leader John Garang, who died shortly after signing the 2005 peace deal with the Khartoum government that provided for Sunday’s vote. “The day that we have waited for for so long has finally arrived.”

Kiir too chose that polling station to cast his ballot, watched on by US Sudan envoy Scott Gration and senior Senator John Kerry, who had both engaged in intensive shuttle diplomacy for months to clear the way for the momentous vote to go ahead.

They were joined by Hollywood star George Clooney who has long campaigned passionately for Sudan. Yar Mayon, who grew up in refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, said: “I came here in the early morning because I wanted to show just how much I wanted to vote.

“It was so important to me I could not sleep,” she said, as she prepared to cast her ballot in favour of partitioning Africa’s largest nation and creating the world’s 193rd UN member state.

As the sun rose, Wilson Santino said: “This is a new dawn because we vote for our freedom.

“We have been fighting for too many years but today this vote for separation is also for peace. Soon the sun will be shining over a free south Sudan.” Polls were to stay open until 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) for the first of seven days of voting. Euphoria had gripped Juba on the eve of polling as people feted the looming end of a long and often difficult countdown.

But the celebrations were overshadowed by deadly clashes with armed tribesmen and renegade militiamen in two remote oil-producing districts on the north-south border that were bitterly contested in the 1983-2005 civil war.

Kiir told his people in an eve of polling day message that there was no alternative to peaceful coexistence with the north. “Fellow compatriots, we are left only with a few hours to make the most vital and extremely important decision of our lifetime,” he said.

Juba, Sunday, AFP