South Sudan to secede

SUDAN: Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in a landmark January 9-15 referendum, according to the first complete preliminary results announced on Sunday.

Earlier partial results had put the outcome of the vote beyond doubt but official figures were announced publicly for the first time during a ceremony attended by president Salva Kiir in the southern capital Juba.

The discreet leader, who is to steer southern Sudan to statehood in July after overseeing a six-year transition period, said the more than two million victims of the 1983-2005 civil war did not die in vain.

Chan Reec, the chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau in charge of polling in the south, said a whopping 99.57 percent of those who voted in the south chose secession.

Turnout in the south stood at 99 percent and only 16,129 people voted for Africa’s largest country to remain united, said Reec, whose announcement was met by cheers from the crowd.

Juba, Sunday, AFP