UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 27 (UPI) -- The vice president of Sudan, speaking before the United Nations Monday, promised an unfettered referendum on South Sudanese independence.
The people of the semi-autonomous region are to vote Jan. 9 on whether to secede from the African nation.
Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha told the U.N. General Assembly the vote will take place without "coercion or dictation and in an atmosphere of integrity and transparency."
The referendum is set forth in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that formally ended two decades of fighting between the northern-based government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in the south.
At the same time, inhabitants of the central area of Abyei will vote separately on whether to retain the region's special administrative status in the north or become part of Bahr el-Ghazal state in the south.
Taha said the Sudanese government was making efforts to restore peace and security to the country's Darfur region in the west, where fighting has been ongoing for seven years, a U.N. release said.
