Referendum in Sdsudan: Several dead in the fight hand in the border region

On the second day of the referendum on the independence of southern Sudan, there has been in the oil-rich Abyei region, heavy fighting between tribal fighters and Arab militias - 23 people died. At the same time clarify the former U.S. President Carter first points of contention between North and South.

Khartoum - The second day of the referendum, thousands people of Sudan to the polls to decide on the independence of the South. According to observers, the vote on Monday was peaceful in many regions. It was overshadowed by heavy fighting in the oil-rich Abyei border region. In clashes between tribal fighters and Arab militias, 23 people were killed.


Tribal representatives accused the government in Khartoum to have supplied Arab militias with weapons. The military denied the allegations. The south of the country decides since Sunday in a multi-day referendum on secession by the predominantly Arab north. The residents of the Abyei region has been promised to decide in a separate referendum to which part they want to join.

The leaders could not agree on the modalities of the vote. It is certain that will be decided by the majority of the voters for the secession from the north and for the formation of a new nation. On the first day, many people participate in the referendum were in the south on Sunday as 20 percent of the vote went to the polls, 14 percent in the north, a member of the Referendum Commission said on Monday.

The referendum is scheduled for one week. First results are expected in early February, the end result is on 15 February will be announced. The name of the new state is also not clear as details of the future of office in the northern Sudan - which conflicts are programmed. Also open are the exact border between north and south and the allocation of oil resources, which are for the economies of both countries is of essential importance.

On any issue is characterized, however, from motion: So said the former U.S. President Jimmy Carter in a CNN interview that the Sudanese President Umar al-Bashir told him signaled in an interview a readiness to take all the debt of nearly $ 38,000,000,000 . "This means that the southern Sudan began to some extent without debt on paper," said Carter.

Bashir had recently asked the West to a debt relief to improve the prospects for peace.

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