South Sudan Decides Its Future in Vote on Independence
07 January 2011
Supporters of independence gathered in Juba, the capital of southern Sudan, Friday.
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
On Sunday, the people of southern Sudan begin deciding whether or not to become the world's newest nation. A week of voting is expected to split Africa's largest country in two.
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Friday was the final day of campaigning. Southern Sudanese paraded through Juba, their possible future capital.
The vote comes from a peace agreement six years ago. Almost four million people have registered to vote. David Gressly, the top United Nations official in the south, says voting centers are ready.
DAVID GRESSLY: "[The] security situation is calm. It’s been calm for a number of weeks. So we think this is going to start on time. It will go very peacefully."
Observers from around the world have gathered in Sudan for the voting. Final results are not expected for several weeks.
Many southerners have been returning from the north. They fear the unknown. Yet so do many northern Sudanese. They have urged southerners to vote for unity.
But many southerners feel their part of the country has been treated unfairly by the central government in Khartoum.
The peace agreement was signed in January of two thousand five. It ended more than twenty years of civil war between the north and the south.
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