Southern Sudan votes 98.83 per cent to secede

Southern Sudan was well on track to become the world's newest state after final results of its historic independence referendum showed that 98.83 per cent of its people had voted for succession.

The results -- displayed at an announcement ceremony in Khartoum -- revealed that, out of 3,837,406 valid ballots cast, only 44,888 votes, or 1.17 per cent, favoured the status quo of unity with the north.

"The referendum was correct, accurate and transparent and we have no objection to the results," Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, the chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission's chairman, said.

The definitive outcome of the January 9-15 referendum emerged soon after Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said Khartoum accepted the south's widely anticipated landslide vote for sovereignty.

"We respect the people of south Sudan's choice and we accept the result of the referendum according to what the commission announces," the Sudanese leadership said in a statement broadcast on state television.

"South Sudan has chosen secession. But we are committed to the links between the north and the south, and we are committed to good relations based on cooperation," Bashir himself said earlier in a speech at the headquarters of his ruling National Congress Party.

The final results ceremony was something of a formality after preliminary results a week earlier showed the same overwhelming majority of south Sudanese choosing to split with the north.

One woman at the ceremony briefly disrupted proceedings by bursting into tears and shouting "We miss Sudan!" before being escorted out by police.

The referendum defied expectations by taking place on time and largely without incident, despite the major logistical challenges facing the organisers and fears that the Khartoum government might try to block a process certain to split Africa's largest nation in two.

UN welcomes results of South Sudan vote

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed a historic referendum granting independence to southern Sudan and asked both sides to to reach an agreement on post-referendum arrangements.

Ban also commended Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir and his government as well as President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the Government of Southern Sudan, for facilitating a largely peaceful referendum in January.

"The results, which showed that 98.83% of all voters chose independence are reflective of the will of the people of Southern Sudan," Ban said in a statement.

"The peaceful and credible conduct of the referendum is a great achievement for all Sudanese."

Last month, the people of South Sudan completed a week-long referendum to decide whether they wanted independence from North Sudan.

The North is majority Muslim which the South is Christian.

The referendum is a key element of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended two decades of civil war, fought for religious and political reasons.

Sixty per cent of the nearly four million registered voters participated in the referendum, which makes the outcome valid.

The oil-rich district, which remains a flash point between the parties, has still not voted and there have been violent clashes between Arab nomadic cattle-herders, known as Misseriya, who have allegiances with the North, and the Ngok Dinka, who have loyalties with the South.

The North want the Misseriya who come in and out of Abyei to be included in the referendum but the South only want the Dinka to participate.

Ban called on the CPA partners to "to build on the momentum generated by the successful conduct of the referendum to reach an agreement on post-referendum arrangements, including Abyei, expeditiously and in the same spirit of cooperation."