20091222

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's parliament on Tuesday passed a controversial and long-awaited bill, paving the way for a referendum on the independence of the country's oil-producing south.

The bill passed despite Southern Sudanese members of parliament boycotting the meeting on a dispute over the voting rights of South Sudanese living in the north.

"Finally, after a long journey, we approved this law," said Ahmed Ibrahim al-Tahir, the parliament's chairman and member of north Sudan's dominant National Congress Party.

Tuesday's bill marks the end of months of wrangling between the former civil war foes over the terms of the legislation.

South Sudan secured the independence vote as part of a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of civil war with the north.

Analysts had warned the south could return to war if there was any sign Khartoum was not going to go through with the vote, a development that would have a devastating impact on the country, its oil industry and the surrounding region.