South likely to secede on July 9
Early results from South Sudan’s referendum show that an overwhelming majority—almost 99 per cent of voters—have voted for independence. The referendum was part of the 2005 North-South peace deal, ending Africa’s longest civil war which claimed an estimated 2 million lives. The outcome was widely expected because of the North and South’s longstanding differences over oil, ideology, ethnicity and religion. The referendum headquarters in Khartoum will announce preliminary results in one week.