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S.Sudan president in first call for independence
 [Al Arabiya Latest] South Sudan's president on Saturday urged southerners to choose independence in a referendum if they wanted to be free, the closest he has come to calling publicly for the separation of the oil-producing region.The south will vote in a referendum slated for January 2011 as part of the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan's 22-year civil war--the African continent's longest armed conflict.
"You want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice," said Salva Kiir, speaking at Saint Teresa's Catholic Cathedral in the southern capital Juba at the end of a service. "If you would want to vote for independence so that you are a free person in your independent state, that will be your own choice," said Kiir, a former guerrilla fighter who battled the government in Khartoum for over two decades. "We will respect the choice of the people," he added. Posted by: Fred 2009-11-01 |
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