20110104
reuters

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Almost 4 million southern Sudanese, or roughly half the south's population, have registered to take part in an independence referendum next week that is likely to split Africa's largest country in two, officials said on Monday.

The U.S. State Department said it was optimistic ahead of the vote, which is due to begin in six days and marks the climax of a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war in Sudan that killed at least 2 million people and destablised much of the region.

"At this point, we are optimistic about the referendum this coming weekend," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing in Washington.

Southerners are expected to vote to separate from the north and form a new nation.

"The total number of people registered in the south, in the eight countries abroad and in the states of northern Sudan is 3,930,916," said Chan Reek Madut, a member of the referendum's organising commission.

The vast majority of voters are in the southern region. Only some sixty thousand registered in the diaspora and less than 120,000 in the north, amid accusations of voter intimidation and a fear of reprisals should the south separate.

The south's population was estimated to be 8 million in the latest census.

THE RIGHT SIGNALS

Madut said 52 percent of those registered were women. Organisers made a concerted effort to ensure women, often uneducated in rural areas, were able to sign up to vote.