Sudan: Today referendum for South Sudan secession
The referendum is known as “The Final Walk to Freedom” - a symbolic journey for those who fought in decades of war, for villagers whose homes were bombed, and for orphans who ended up in US communities as the Lost Boys of Sudan.
The weeklong independence balloting starts Sunday for the southern third of Sudan - Africa’s biggest country - on whether to draw a border between the north, which is mostly Arab and Muslim, and the south, populated mostly by blacks who are Christian or animist.
For southern Sudanese like Atem Yak, who survived war, lived amid dire poverty and endured discrimination, it has been a long time coming.