Today, voters in the southern part of Sudan head to the polls in a referendum which will determine whether they should form their own state or remain part of Sudan, Africa’s largest
country. Secession – the most likely outcome of the referendum, and called for in the 2005 peace agreement that ended 21 years of civil war between the country’s north and south – would
mean that the government in Khartoum could lose not only territory, but also over 80 percent of the revenues it receives from oil exportation, as most of the oil is located in the would-be state of
South Sudan. As a result, many fear that bloodshed will follow the poll.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir – the only serving head of state wanted by the ICC on war crimes charges – has, in the last couple of days, played down the risk of conflict.
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