6 months until South Sudan votes to secede from north marked by rally in southern capital
By APFriday, July 9, 2010
6 months until South Sudan votes to secede
JUBA, Sudan — Hundreds of people in Southern Sudan are gathering to mark the six-month countdown until the semiautonomous region holds a vote on whether to secede from Sudan and form its own country.
Youth activists wearing bright orange shirts took to the streets Friday with one message: “Separation is our ultimate goal.”
The south’s referendum, slated for January 9, was a key provision of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, an accord that ended decades of war between Sudan’s government in Khartoum and the southern rebels, the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army.
Organizers of Friday’s rally plan to launch events in coming months in all ten states of Southern Sudan, a largely rural and impoverished areas roughly the size of Texas.
