KHARTOUM – South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to declare its independence in final results of a referendum made public on Monday, opening the door to Africa’s newest state and a fresh period of uncertainty for the fractured region.
A total of 98.83 percent of voters from Sudan’s oil-producing south chose to secede from the north in last month’s referendum, according to a video display of the vote seen by Reuters at the venue of the announcement.
The referendum is the climax of a 2005 north-south peace accord that set out to end Africa’s longest civil war and instil democracy in a country that straddles the continent’s Arab-sub Saharan divide.
Africa’s largest state set to split on July 9
