Sudan: Southern Sudan diaspora backs secession as vote count starts

The marathon task of counting the ballot in southern Sudan's independence referendum was underway on Sunday after the week-long polling on partitioning Africa's largest nation closed. 'Secession. Secession. Secession', the returning officer intoned on Saturday night as he carefully unfolded each ballot paper cast at a polling station in a school in the southern capital of Juba before pronouncing the voter's choice.