South Sudan referendum ends with results of separation
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In the meantime, the Sudanese Council of Ministers on Monday approved south Sudan referendum result in an extraordinary session chaired by al-Bashir in presence of his two Vice-Presidents Salva Kiir Mayardit and Ali Osman Mohamed Taha.
Sudanese Minister of Information Kamal Obaid told reporters following the council's session that the council approved the result and congratulated the people of south Sudan for their option. It affirmed the meanings for which the president has called in a number of occasions on continuation in supporting the south until it completes the conditions required for the establishment of the state on July 9, 2011.
President of South Sudan government Salva Kiir Mayardit, addressing the council's session, said "separation is not the end of the road and we will not be enemies."
He further stressed the importance of building strong relations between the two sides, adding that the borders between north and south Sudan would be only on papers.
He urged the international community to reward the al-Bashir and the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) for their remarkable role in implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was inked between north and south Sudan in 2005.
"The person who does good things must be rewarded, " he said. " Sanctions imposed on Sudan must be lifted, Sudan's name must be removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and its external debts should be exempted."
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General's Panel on the Referenda in Sudan on Monday welcomed the official announcement of the final results of the south Sudan referendum.
"The Panel believes that the referendum's outcome reflects the free will of the people of south Sudan and that the process as a whole was free, fair and credible," the panel said in a statement.
South Sudan referendum was conducted between Jan. 9 and Jan. 15, 2010, which constituted a major item in the CPA, which ended around two-decade civil war between the two sides.
