KHARTOUM: Southern Sudan was well on track to become the world's newest state Monday after final results of its historic independence referendum showed that 98.83 percent had voted for secession. The results – displayed at a ceremony in Khartoum – revealed that out of 3,837,406 valid ballots cast, only 44,888 votes, or 1.17 percent, favored the status quo of unity with the north. “The referendum was correct, accurate and transparent and we have no objection to the results,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission. The definitive outcome of the Jan. 9-15 referendum emerged soon after Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir said that Khartoum accepted the south's widely anticipated landslide vote for sovereignty. The United States said Monday it will recognize south Sudan as the world's newest nation as it moved to reward the north for its cooperation by taking it off a terrorism blacklist. Just hours after results, President Barack Obama announced that the United States would recognize it as a “sovereign, independent state” in July. “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. Southern leader Salva Kiir praised Bashir Monday and promised cooperation with the north after the south becomes independent in July. “The (freedom) of the south is not the end of the road, because we cannot be enemies. We must build strong relations... (as) there are many things that connect the north and the south,” Kiir said. He pledged to create a soft border that allows the free movement of people and goods, to cooperate on security, and to help in lifting sanctions, having Sudan's foreign debt forgiven and reaching a peace deal on Darfur. – Agence France
