"We respect the people of south Sudan's choice and we accept the result
of the referendum according to what the commission announces," the
Sudanese leadership said in a statement broadcast on state television.
"South Sudan has chosen secession. But we are committed to the links
between the north and the south, and we are committed to good relations
based on co-operation," Mr Bashir himself said earlier, in a speech at
the headquarters of his ruling National Congress Party.
The January 9-15 referendum defied expectations by taking place on time and
largely without incident, despite the major logistical challenges facing the
organisers and fears that the Khartoum government might try to block a
process certain to split Africa's largest nation in two.
The vote was the centrepiece of a 2005 peace deal that ended a devastating
22-year conflict in Sudan
between the largely African Christian south and the mainly Arab Muslim north
that killed around two million people.
The final results, which were set to be announced at a ceremony in Khartoum
last night attended by Mr Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir, come one
week after preliminary results showed almost 99 per cent of south Sudanese
choosing to split with the north.
