KHARTOUM - After a 27-year civil war that has caused two million deaths and displaced four million people, Sudan is at a crossroads. The Christian population of the South are voting en masse on the first day of a referendum that could rule the division in two of the African country. Clashes are reported in the oil region of Abyei, on the border between North and South, where at least one person was killed.But overall the voting process proceed in a calm, with the seats in the crowded southern and northern almost deserted. The president of the semi-autonomous region of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, has voted along with thousands of people lined up in Juba, the capital of the South "and 'the historical moment that all southern Sudanese were waiting," he said leaving the seat .
Video Code to the polls, there is also George Clooney The trend in the voting process is viewed positively by Veronique De Keyser, the chief observer of the European Union. "What I saw this morning - he said - is very moving: You can really feel the expectation in people for something very important." De Keyser for the referendum "is very organized, very well - he continued - people are lined up calmly at the moment and I hope that this happens throughout the day." Queues of voters formed in front of polling stations from the early hours of the morning, long before the opening of polling stations.
There are about four million Sudanese from 15 November to 8 December last had enrolled in the lists for the referendum, implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed exactly six years ago, January 9, 2005, by members of the North and South to end the devastating civil war.
In a polling station in Juba appeared this morning, shortly after opening, both former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, president of the center, and actor George Clooney, who heads a group of movie stars (Brad Pitt , Matt Demon and others) who fights for civil rights in Africa. The voting will continue until January 15.
Because the outcome of the referendum to be valid - the referendum commission announced that after the end of voting, until January 15, there is a month to the disclosure of official results - must vote at least 60 per cent of those registered to vote.
- Sudan: Tension over Abyei Continues (08/01/2011)
- Sudanese Death Toll in Clashes Around Abyei May Reach Nine, Officials Say - Bloomberg (08/01/2011)
- In Southern Sudan, the clock ticks toward 'liberation' (08/01/2011)
- In Southern Sudan, the clock ticks toward 'liberation' - CNN International (08/01/2011)
- Splitting Sudan, but how? The unanswered questions in today's referendum for independence (09/01/2011)
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