South Sudan Extra!

Map: Scott Wallace@Warsintheworld.com

UPDATE from Twitter: Saturday 22 January 2011:

sudan0312: RT @SaveDarfur: #DarfurDailyNews Sudan�s Armed Forces, Darfur Rebels Clash, 21 Killed, Army Says http://goo.gl/fb/wo6ef

about 15 hours ago via Google · Reply · View Tweet

From blogfordarfur.org

Two days of voting in South Sudan

Monday, January 10th, 2011

After two days of voting on the referendum for independence, South Sudan is edging closer to seceding from the Northern government based in Khartoum. With no reports of violence related to the vote, The Guardian is claiming a turnout approaching 50% of the population while the vote seems to be swaying overwhelmingly toward independence as the BBC’s Will Ross has reported he is unable to find any voters who opted to remain a part of Sudan. Furthermore, former US President Carter said in an interview with CNN that in a private conversation with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that Bashir expressed the belief that an independent South Sudan should be free of Sudan’s debt obligations, in effect pledging to take on all of Sudan’s $38 billion international debt.

Among 60,000 Sudanese refugees and expatriates living in the United States, there are 8 designated polling places to cast votes. In Omaha, refugees are braving snow and cold to cast their votes–some have come from as far away as Fargo, North Dakota to vote.

The news has been less positive in the border region of Abyei, however. A referendum planned to run in parallel to the South Sudanese referendum has been delayed andtensions between rival Misseriya and Dinka tribes have exploded into violence that have claimed between 23 and 33 lives in the past three days. UN Peacekeepers are being sent to the region to investigate the incidents of violence.