JUBA, Sudan — It’s not every day that a beleaguered, marginalized and persecuted people get a chance to vote for their own freedom. On Sunday, southern Sudanese did.
Starting in the cool hours of the night, long before the polls even opened, people across this region began lining up at polling stations to cast their votes in a historic referendum on whether to declare independence. Jubilant crowds made clear which was the overwhelmingly popular choice.
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The referendum is a result of a conflict that lasted for decades and an American-backed peace treaty in 2005, which granted the south the right to self-determination.
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The votes are expected to take at least a week to count. And if 60 percent of the registered voters cast ballots and the majority choose secession, then the hard work begins. Before Sudan can amicably split into two — the south plans to declare independence in July — several sticky issues need to be resolved. The top two are sharing Sudan’s oil and demarcating the border, including the Abyei area, which both the north and south claim.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/world/africa/11sudan.html
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