Sudan 1/22/11
South Sudan people vote for independence
Sudan, - With most votes counted in Southern Sudan's referendum, 99% of people have opted for independence from the north, officials say.
Official results are due next month but correspondents say the outcome of the week-long poll is not in doubt.
However, the former rebels now running oil-rich Southern Sudan have urged people not to celebrate yet.
President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept the result of the vote, which was held after years of war.
A journalist in Juba says this is the news many in the south have been waiting to hear - that the number of votes cast in favour of independence has passed the required 50%.
The results were published on a website published by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission, and officials have confirmed they are genuine.
It says that 83% of votes in the south have been counted, along with 100% of those in the north and the eight foreign countries where polling was held.
Just 1.4% of people have voted for continued unity with the north.
More than 3m ballots have been counted so far, with several hundred thousands still to come.
Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau spokesman Aleu Garang Aleu said counting should be finished on 31 January and final results announced on 14 February, after any appeals had been dealt with.
Our correspondent says southern leaders are waiting for these results to be declared and accepted by the north before the giant party being planned begins.
If the result is confirmed, the new country is set to formally declare its independence on 9 July.
The mainly Arabic-speaking, Muslim north has fought the south, where most are Christian or follow traditional religions, for most of Sudan's post-independence history.
In order for the referendum to be valid, more than 50% of voters must back secession and at least 60% of registered voters must take part.
Election officials have previously said that the 60% threshold had been passed.
The great divide across Sudan is visible even from space, as this Nasa satellite image shows. The northern states are a blanket of desert, broken only by the fertile Nile corridor. Southern Sudan is covered by green swathes of grassland, swamps and tropical forest.
Sudan's arid northern regions are home mainly to Arabic-speaking Muslims. But in Southern Sudan there is no dominant culture. The Dinkas and the Nuers are the largest of more than 200 ethnic groups, each with its own traditional beliefs and languages.
The health inequalities in Sudan are illustrated by infant mortality rates. In Southern Sudan, one in 10 children die before their first birthday. Whereas in the more developed northern states, such as Gezira and White Nile, half of those children would be expected to survive.
The gulf in water resources between north and south is stark. In Khartoum, River Nile, and Gezira states, two-thirds of people have access to piped drinking water and pit latrines. In the south, boreholes and unprotected wells are the main drinking sources. More than 80% of southerners have no toilet facilities whatsoever.
Throughout Sudan, access to primary school education is strongly linked to household earnings. In the poorest parts of the south, less than 1% of children finish primary school.
Whereas in the wealthier north, up to 50% of children complete primary level education.
Conflict and poverty are the main causes of food insecurity in Sudan. The residents of war-affected Darfur and Southern Sudan are still greatly dependent on food aid. Far more than in northern states, which tend to be wealthier, more urbanised and less reliant on agriculture.
Sudan exports billions of dollars of oil per year. Southern states produce more than 80% of it, but receive only 50% of the revenue, exacerbating tensions with the north. The oil-rich border region of Abyei is to hold a separate vote on whether to join the north or the south.
(Source: ANGOP INTERNATIONAL Angola International News Service)
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