South Sudan Expected to Break From Khartoum in Weeklong Referndum

Voters in the capital of autonomous South Sudan region broke out in song and wrapped themselves as week long balloting began on a referendum for independence from Khartoum on Sunday.

The voting is expected to be relatively peaceful, although the referendum is the culmination of a prolonged bloody civil war that left nearly 1 million dead. It is widely expected that oil rich and majority Christan South Sudan- which consists of roughly the southern ⅓ of Sudan- will vote overwhelmingly to break with the Khartoum regime of Omar al-Bashir (who has an international warrant from the International Criminal Courts from 2009).

Voter turnout has surpassed more than 60% this week in the first 3 days of voting. Polls are expected to close this upcoming Sunday.

However, even if the referendum passes and Khartoum peacefully accepts South Sudan's secession from the rest of the country, the new nation would be faced with a number of political and logistical challenges. Although rich in timber and oil, South Sudan is landlocked. Aside from Kenya, a potentially belligerent Sudan and the perennially unstable Democratic Republic of the Congo, the countries bordering South Sudan would also be landlocked [for the record, the Darfur reigon that caught the attention of so many Hollywood types is in the Western part of Sudan and bordering Chad- NANESB!].

The shortest route for exports would be to the northeast and the Red Sea port of Port Sudan. While there is talks of constructing a rail link with Uganda to the south, the new nation would be dependent on the goodwill of Khartoum and the al-Bashir regime in the near term.

There is also a high infant mortality rate and it's believed there are only three functioning hospitals in the nearly 240,000 square mile autonomous region at present.