20110104
reuters

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir made his final trip to the southern capital Juba on Tuesday before a January 9 vote on secession, offering a hand of peace to the southerners he fought for so long.

Bashir seemed to accept that Sudan would split in two after the referendum and his visit was seen as allaying fears that the northern government would refuse to let go of the south -- which has 70 percent of Sudan's oil output.

There have been fears that the referendum could lead to a return to war, but Bashir said he would join in the south's independence celebrations.

The south's independence referendum was guaranteed in a 2005 peace deal ending Sudan's north-south civil war, which killed at least two million people and destabilised much of the region, fuelled by oil, religion, ethnicity and ideology.

Nearly four million southerners have registered to take part in the vote after a civil war fought since 1955 against Khartoum they see as having oppressed them. A vote for separation is seen as a foregone conclusion.

"The preferred choice for us is unity but in the end we will respect the choice of the southern citizens," Bashir said in a speech to southern officials. "One would be sad that Sudan has split but also pleased because we witnessed peace."

Bashir appeared visibly resigned in contrast to his usual upbeat rhetoric, in a visit seen as a farewell to the south and to the title of Africa's largest country by area.

Accepting that the result is likely to be secession, Bashir said he would come and join in the celebrations after the vote.