S Sudan march marks 1 month before referendum vote

Thousands of people in Southern Sudan marched through the streets of the capital Thursday to show support for a referendum on independence from the north scheduled to be held in one month.

Southerners have made their preference for secession clear in the run-up to the Jan. 9 vote, and even the U.S. government has said it is "inevitable" that the south will vote to break apart Africa's largest country.

In the southern capital of Juba, marchers sang songs for an independent Southern Sudan and blared music from speakers mounted on pickup trucks.

Many held posters displaying a raised palm — the symbol that will appear on the referendum ballot to represent separation. A vote for unity will be represented by a picture of two clasped hands.

Alfred Gach Thot grew up in neighboring Ethiopia after he was forced to flee his village during Sudan's 23-year civil war, which pitted the mainly Muslim north against the mainly Christian and animist south. More than 2 million people died in that conflict.

"I have many reasons for voting for separation," Thot said. "Mainly it is because of discrimination. Northern people don't want to marry southerners, and the northern regime forces people to Islamize. They want us to be Arab instead of African. And they treat us like second-class citizens."

The northern, Khartoum-based government is headed by President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in the western Sudanese region of Darfur.

In the past month, the northern Sudanese army has launched a series of aerial attacks on a contested border zone between the north and south, an area currently occupied by the southern army. One group of demonstrators on Thursday held a sign calling on Khartoum to stop what they described as provocations of war.

The border zone and much of the south is rich in oil resources but most of the transport infrastructure, such as pipelines and port facilities, lies in the north.

The south insists that the vote must be held on Jan. 9, but ballots have not yet been printed and the chairman of the referendum commission, Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, told reporters Wednesday in Khartoum that he was seeking a delay of "a few days" for technical reasons.

The prospect of delays could trigger demonstrations or even violence if southerners suspect the northern government is trying to interfere with the vote. On Wednesday, a group of leaders brought together by former South African President Nelson Mandela issued a statement calling for calm.

"This is a critical time for the people of Sudan and the African continent. I pray that voting will be peaceful, but if things go badly, it's likely that there will be further conflict. We have to do all we can to prevent that. The people have suffered enough," said Desmond Tutu, who chairs the group.