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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2011 - 11:54:33 EST
Almost 99 percent choose south Sudan split
Fri Jan 21, 2011 1:33pm GMT
* Only South Darfur chose unity, official questions result
* Ruling northern party says expects secession
* Final official results expected early February (Adds figures, quotes,
background)
JUBA, Sudan, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Almost 99 percent of south Sudanese who
voted in an independence referendum chose to split away from the north, the
first official but incomplete figures published by the vote's organising
commission showed on Friday.
The results were the latest indication of a landslide vote for southern
independence in last week's referendum, promised in a 2005 peace deal that
ended decades of north-south civil war. The final official figures are
expected in February.
The website for the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (
<http://southernsudan2011.com/> southernsudan2011.com/) showed a 98.6
percent vote for secession, with more than 80 percent of the votes from the
south counted, and 100 percent counted in other areas.
The commission earlier confirmed the turnout had passed the 60 percent mark
needed to make the result binding.
Officials from the oil-producing south have so far given a measured response
to the early results and warned voters not to stage early celebrations to
avoid antagonising the north.
The calm, controlled mood in the southern capital Juba has been in sharp
contrast to the jubilant scenes that greeted the start of voting, when
campaign posters described independence as a liberation from war and
northern oppression.
"This is the outcome we expected ... the results won't change much," the
commission's deputy chairman Chan Reek Madut, a southerner, told Reuters.
The only area to show a majority for unity was a small pocket of voters in
the northern Sudanese state of South Darfur. According to the figures, 63.2
percent of voters wanted to keep the country together and only 36.8 percent
went for secession.
"It is not surprising because of the way they conducted their registration.
Some people passed as southerners who were actually northerners from
Darfur," said Madut.
"They took advantage of the lack of security in the area. It won't impact
seriously on the result." Darfur is the scene of a seven-year conflict
pitting rebels against the government.
A senior official from north Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP)
said he would wait until the final announcement before giving an official
reaction.
"But the expectation is that the result will be for secession," said Rabie
Abdelati. "The party is working for the post referendum period now -- the
demarcation of the borders and the resolution of the Abyei problem. We are
doing our best to prepare for the consequences of secession on the north."
Northern and southern officials still have to agree how they would divide
oil revenues after a split and sort out the ownership of the contested
border region of Abyei.
Overall, 57.65 percent of southerners voting in the north of the country
chose independence, according to the figures. In countries outside Sudan,
98.55 percent chose independence.
Commission staff confirmed the authenticity of the website and the figures.
"These are incomplete and provisional pending the declaration of preliminary
and final results. They may be subject to change," a statement on its
homepage warned.
Sudan's north-south war -- Africa's longest civil conflict -- was fuelled by
differences over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology. It killed an
estimated 2 million people, forced 4 million to flee and destabilised the
region. (Reporting by Jason Benham and Jeremy Clarke; additional reporting
and writing by Andrew Heavens; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
C Thomson Reuters 2011 All rights reserved
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