Millions vote in South Sudan freedom poll

Millions of jubilant south Sudanese started voting on Sunday in a long-awaited independence referendum that is expected to see their war-ravaged region emerge as a new nation.

Huge queues built up outside polling stations before dawn in the southern capital Juba where banners described the week-long ballot as a Last March to Freedom after decades of civil war and perceived repression by north Sudan.

I am voting for separation, said Nhial Wier,a veteran of the north-south civil war that led up to the vote. This day marks the end of my struggles. In the Army I was fighting for freedom. I was fighting for separation.

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The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended Africas longest civil war,fuelled by oil and ethnicity,between the mostly Muslim north and the south,where most people follow Christianity and traditional beliefs.

In the north,the prospect of losing a quarter of the countrys land mass and the source of most of its oil has been greeted with resignation and some resentment.

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,who campaigned for unity in the run-up to the vote,has been making increasingly conciliatory comments. Southern President Salva Kiir urged long lines of voters to be patient after casting his ballot at 8 am.

Juba and Khartoum already looked liked the capitals of two different countries on Sunday. In Juba,actor George Clooney and US Senator John Kerry mingled with dancing and singing crowds. It is something to see people actually voting for their freedom. Thats not something you see often in your life, Clooney told Reuters.