Huge turnout again on 2nd day of south Sudan vote

[cory777]

Source: AFP

JUBA, Sudan (AFP) – Thousands of south Sudanese poured out to vote for a second straight day in a landmark independence referendum on Monday, bringing the region a step closer to becoming the world's newest state.

Repeating the jubilant scenes witnessed on Sunday, huge queues formed outside polling stations in the regional capital Juba from long before dawn as voters seized the chance to have their say on whether to split Africa's largest nation and put the seal on five decades of north-south conflict.

The scale of the turnout on the first of the seven days of polling has already put the south well on the way to reaching the 60-percent threshold set by a 2005 peace deal between north and south for the referendum to be valid.

"The percentage of those who voted yesterday (Sunday) in the northern states was 14 and in the southern states it was 20 percent," Paulino Wanawilla Unango, of the South Sudan Referendum Commission, told reporters in Khartoum.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110110/wl_africa_afp/sudanreferendum

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[Posteritatis]

1. I can only imagine the atmosphere over there right now. (nt)

[cory777]

2. Violence breaks out by Sudan's north-south border

AP

JUBA, Sudan – Violence in the disputed region of Abyei has killed at least 30 people along Sudan's north-south divide, officials said Monday. Observers fear the latest unrest could spark more fighting amid an otherwise peaceful and jubilant independence referendum in the south.

Abyei remains the most contentious sticking point between north and south following a two-decade civil war that left 2 million dead. Even President Barack Obama, who applauded this week's historic referendum on independence in the south, warned that violence in the Abyei region should cease.

United Nations spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday the organization is "extremely concerned" about the reports of clashes and casualties in Abyei.

"The mission is in the process of confirming the numbers (of casualties), and containing the situation with enhanced patrols and engaging with the top leadership," Nesirky said at a regular news briefing at U.N. headquarters.

full story - http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110110/ap_on_re_af/af_southern_sudan_referendum