High turnout on final day of voting in S. Sudan's independence test

JUBA, Sudan -- Voters in Southern Sudan began celebrating after the end of a weeklong independence referendum Saturday, a poll that is widely expected to lead to the creation of the world's newest country.

Officials and observers noted high turnout and praised the peaceful voting process.

Results began trickling in immediately after polls closed Saturday evening. Almost everyone expects the south to vote overwhelmingly to break away from the north, cleaving one of Africa's larger nations in two.

In Khartoum, the northern capital, one polling station registered a 61 percent vote in favor of independence shortly after polls closed. About two dozen observers oversaw the counting of some 126 ballots at that station.

In Juba, the southern capital, polling centers counted ballots as residents milled around on the streets. But residents said they already knew the outcome.

"I am very happy because we are going to get our independence," said Mary Atong, 45, a mother of four. "Bye bye, enough."

Santino Riak, a public administration student at Juba University, said independence was due after the north and south fought a two-decade war that killed 2 million people before a 2005 peace agreement.

"We have lost many people in the war, but now we are smelling freedom, it is coming," he said.

Officials and observers reported high voter turnout. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised voters for "the display of wisdom, patience and peaceful determination that has characterized the voting over the last week."

3.9 million registered

Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, the chairman of the south's referendum commission, said 83 percent of those registered in the south and 53 percent of those registered in the north had cast their votes. He also cited a 91 percent turnout rate among Sudanese voters in eight other countries. Officials had said there were some 3.9 million registered voters.

Khalil said he believed the referendum would be judged as "a good result by any international standard," noting that the commission set up the vote in four months.

"We have come a long way, making long strides to reach the stage where we are today," said Khalil, a lawyer from northern Sudan who is 90 years old.

He echoed predictions that the south would choose to split from the north.

"All indications show that the south will lean toward separation," he said, adding, "I don't derive any pleasure from announcing the splitting of Sudan in two ... on the contrary, I would rather have hoped the country would remain united."

Sudan's ruling party in the north said Friday it was ready to accept southern independence. Border demarcation, oil rights and the status of the contested region of Abyei still have to be negotiated.

If the process stays on track, Southern Sudan will become the world's newest country in July.

The proposal needs only a simple majority and a 60 percent voter turnout rate to pass.

Individual polling stations will begin posting their results on Sunday. Official results will be released early February.

Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter has been in Sudan this week to monitor the historic independence vote and to meet with top officials, and he praised the poll's high turnout and orderliness. His foundation, the Carter Center, has been involved in health programs and democracy building in Sudan for more than two decades.

He said he expected the Khartoum-based government to honor the poll's results.

"I think [northerners] will recognize the results immediately," he said. "When the official statement is made of the results of the referendum, my conviction is that the north, including [President Omar al-Bashir], would accept the results."

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Associated Press writers Sarah El Deeb in Khartoum, Sudan and Maggie Fick in Juba, Sudan contributed to this report.