JUBA, Sudan, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir said Saturday his new nation would live in peace with the North if voters approve the South's secession.
Kiir spoke to the BBC at his presidential palace in Juba after meeting U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., one of the international leaders who have come to observe the referendum that begins Sunday. "There is no substitute for peaceful coexistence," he said.
At a rally in Juba Friday, former South African President Thabo Mbeki, the African Union's mediator in Sudan, said, "The work of freedom is just at its beginning. We are confident that the southern Sudanese people have the strength and spirit to succeed in that endeavor."
On Friday, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir told al-Jazeera the South would be unable to create a stable state or provide for its citizens. He said southerners living in the North would not get dual citizenship, and warned of war if southerners take the oil-rich border area of Abyei. Abyei will hold a separate vote on whether to join the North or the South.
After al-Bashir's comments, gunmen attacked southern Sudan's military, leaving four people dead.
The incident was confirmed by the United Nations, but it did not say which side suffered the casualties.
The 3.8 million registered voters will have a week to vote in the vast region, one of the least developed in the world. The 2005 peace agreement requires a turnout of 60 percent for the referendum to be valid.
