South Sudan Decides
By Eric Sande
JUBA---Millions of enthusiastic Southern Sudanese on Sunday started voting on the first day of the seven-day long-awaited referendum that could mark independence of the south region bringing the total number of states in Africa to 54.
In Kenya, hundreds of them from the Diaspora started voting Sunday in various towns, expressing their joy at finally voting to separate from the Khartoum government.
Vast queues built up outside polling stations before dawn in most parts of the southern region where banners described the week-long ballot as a "Last March to Freedom" after decades of civil war and perceived repression by north Sudan.
At least 60 per cent turn out of registered voters will be the minimum requirement to endorse the separation. It is widely expected that most Southerners would vote overwhelmingly to separate from their mostly Arab and Muslim compatriots.
Southern president Salva Kiir called for patience after the long day voting. In his speech he said, “This is the historic moment the people of south Sudan have been waiting for.” holding up his finger to display indelible ink that showed he had voted Mr Kiir added," I believe Doctor John [Garang] and all those who died with him are with us today and I want to assure them they have not died in vain," referring to the southern rebel leader who died in a helicopter crash months after signing the accord.
He appealed for the protection of the Northerners living in South Sudan via the security machinery in the region, asserting that he expected Khartoum to reciprocate the gesture.
Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who campaigned for unity in the run-up to the vote, has been making increasingly conciliatory comments and this month promised to join independence celebrations, if that was the outcome.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended one of Africa's longest civil war, fuelled by oil and ethnicity, between the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most people follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.