Southern Sudan: nearly 99% of voters voted for independence

Nearly 99% of South Sudanese have voted for independence in the referendum on self-determination which took place in mid-January, according to provisional results released Sunday by the electoral commission website after the counting of 98.7% of ballots. This election was planned in the 2005 peace accords that ended decades of civil war.

"So far, 100% of ballots in the North and abroad and 98.7% of South Sudan have been robbed," said the commission on its website. According to provisional results, 98.7% of voters voted for secession, confirming the trend drawn in previous estimates. Ballots will be sent to the office of the Commission in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, to be validated before the announcement of final results in February.

The independence of southern Sudan could be declared on 9 July. The referendum is the key to the peace agreement signed in 2005 between the Khartoum government and south Sudanese rebels to end two decades of civil war between northern, predominantly Arab and Muslim, and South, primarily African and Christian.

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