[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.
" If you want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice "Salva Kiir |
"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.