South Sudan's Kiir urges forgiveness for war

South Sudan's president urged his people to forgive the Muslim north for a devastating 1983-2005 war, as partial results trickling in on Sunday from a landmark vote showed a landslide for secession.In his first public pronouncement since the referendum wrapped up in the mainly Christian region on Saturday, president Salva Kiir joined thousands of faithful in giving thanks for the week-long referendum and praying for their nation-in waiting.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir said on Saturday that there was no alternative to peaceful coexistence with the north as his people prepared to vote on independence after five decades of conflict."Today there is no return to war," Kiir said, speaking in the grounds of the presidential state house in the southern regional capital Juba. "There is no substitute for peaceful coexistence."Fellow compatriots, we are left only with a few hours to make the most vital and extremely important decision of our lifetime.

Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in a landmark January 9-15 referendum, according to the first complete preliminary results announced on Sunday.Earlier partial results had put the outcome of the vote beyond doubt but official figures were announced publicly for the first time during a ceremony attended by president Salva Kiir in the southern capital Juba.Chan Reec, the chairman of the Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau in charge of polling in the south, said a whopping 99.57 percent of those who voted in the south chose secession.

Omar al-Bashir (wikimedia)

Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in a landmark 9-15 January referendum, according to the first complete preliminary results announced on Sunday.Earlier partial results had put the outcome of the vote beyond doubt but official figures were announced publicly for the first time during a ceremony attended by president Salva Kiir in the southern capital Juba.

Close to 99 percent of south Sudanese chose to secede from the north in a landmark January 9-15 referendum, according to the first complete preliminary results announced on Sunday.Earlier partial results had put the outcome of the vote beyond doubt but official figures were announced publicly for the first time during a ceremony attended by president Salva Kiir in the southern capital Juba.

The president of the autonomous region of south Sudan was sworn in on Friday, after being declared winner last month in the country's first competitive elections in more than two decades.Salva Kiir, the head of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement, was sworn in as the first elected president of south Sudan, in a ceremony in the southern capital Juba carried by state television.Kiir was declared winner with 92.99 percent of the votes, in an election that was marred by accusations of fraud and logistical problems.