Millions of jubilant south Sudanese voted on Sunday in an independence referendum expected to see the largely non-Muslim region splitting away from the Arab-led north to create Africa's newest nation. People queued for hours in the burning sun outside polling stations in the southern capital Juba, and many were turned away as the first day of voting in the week-long ballot ended around sundown.
Southerners view the poll as a new beginning after decades of civil war and perceived repression by north Sudan. "This is the moment the people of southern Sudan have been waiting for," southern president Salva Kiir said after casting his ballot, urging people to be patient as they waited to vote. "I am voting for separation," said Nhial Wier, a veteran of the north-south civil war that led up to the vote. "This day marks the end of my struggles. In the army I was fighting for freedom. I was fighting for separation."
African nations who hope to profit from a new neighbour but fear the split could buoy secessionists in their own countries will watch closely as Sudan agrees the mechanics of a split - a disputed border, citizenship and sharing of the key oil resources are all still potential flashpoints.
Hours after voting started, the celebratory atmosphere was marred by reports of fresh fighting between Arab nomads and tribespeople associated with the south in the contested oil-rich Abyei region that borders north and south.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal ending a civil war which has raged on and off since 1955, fuelled by oil and ethnicity, between the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most people follow Christianity and traditional beliefs. The war left two million dead and displaced four million people.
The deal allowed Juba to create a semi-autonomous government with its own constitution, laws and parliament. In the north, the prospect of losing a quarter of the country's land mass - and the source of most of its oil - has been greeted with resignation and some resentment.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who campaigned for unity in the run-up to the vote, has been making increasingly conciliatory comments and this month promised to join independence celebrations, if that was the outcome.
President Barack Obama said on Saturday a peaceful, orderly referendum could help put Sudan back on a path toward normal relations with the United States after years of sanctions.
In Juba, actor George Clooney and US Senator John Kerry mingled with dancing and singing crowds dressed up to the nines. Voters waiting outside one polling station burst into a rendition of the hymn "This is the day that the Lord has made".
In the north, emotions were also running high. "We feel an incredible sadness that a ... very loved part of Sudan will separate from us," said northern opposition Umma Party official Sara Nuqdullah.
The vote's organising commission told Reuters it had defied gloomy forecasts of delays to deliver all voting materials on time for Sunday's deadline.
The logistical achievements have not been matched by political progress. Southerners went to the polls without knowing how the two countries will share assets, debts or disentangle a complicated citizenship issue.
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