A South Sudanese man casts his vote at a polling station during the referendum in Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan, in the border between South and North Sudan January 9, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

JUBA/KHARTOUM - Sudan's southerners began to vote to decide whether the region will remain united with the north or secede to establish an independent state, as a referendum started here on Sunday.

The referendum is a major item in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, which ended a two-decade civil war between north and south Sudan, that left around two million dead.

The vote started at the polling centers in both south and north at 8:00 am local time (5:00 am GMT) and will last till 5:00 pm (14:00 GMT).  

Salva Kiir Mayardit, first vice-president of Sudan and President of the Government of South Sudan, cast the first ballot in Juba at a polling station at the museum of John Garang, founder of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The security of voting centers must be guaranteed, he said after the voting. "Security forces in the south and north Sudan must make sure the security of the voting."

He noted that the property of the northern Sudanese and foreigners in south Sudan must be protected.

John Kerry, chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations told Xinhua while he observed the voting process: "I'm very excited. It's very important. I hope it will be a peaceful referendum."

Asked about the controversial issues including border demarcation and the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, Kerry said: "I think the controversial issues can be resolved as we work in good faith."

"The issues can be solved within the six-month transition period," he said.    

The voting process will last for seven days to end on January 15, 2011.

The southern Sudanese residing in north and south Sudan and outside Sudan have the right to participate in the referendum where 60 percent of the registered voters should cast their votes for the referendum to be valid.

If the south voted for the independence, Sudan would enter a six-month transition period when the north and south would negotiate on thorny issues including border demarcation, the status of the oil-rich Abyei region, as well as the division of the national debts and oil revenue.

People waited in queue for hundreds of meters for the voting at the polling station at John Garang museum. Voters danced and sang slogans such as "Freedom is burning" ahead of the referendum.

Deng Ayok, a 28-year-old university student who stopped his study in Khartoum, Sudan's capital, and returned to the south in November, led his family to vote at Juba University Sunday morning.

"I hope the referendum can reflect our will and lead to a permanent peace and stability of all Sudanese people," he said. " We had suffered so much during the civil war. We need dignity and human rights in a peaceful and stable land."

However, the first hour of voting registered low turnout at the polling centers in the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

Badr-Eddin Hiraiz, director of the al-Gerif Shareg polling center in eastern Khartoum, told Xinhua that by 9:00 a.m. local time, only one southern Sudanese voted at this center, the biggest in the capital, with 1,088 registered voters.

"There are many reasons behind this weak turnout, including the wave of cold which hit the capital today, and the fact that most of the southerners work at farms, factories and do other freelance works and therefore it is difficult for them to abandon their work to come to the polling centers," he said.

Hiraiz expected the turnout to increase by midday.

Barnaba Benjamin, the minister of Information and spokesman of the southern Sudanese government expressed his confidence in an interview with Xinhua on Saturday that the southern Sudanese would vote for the independence of the region in the referendum.

"The southerners will opt for separation and establish an independent state," he said.

He held the successive governments in north Sudan since Sudan's independence in 1956 responsible for failure to boost the emotion for unity among the southern Sudanese citizens.

"Since 1956, the southern Sudanese suffered from war, death, hunger, thirst and lack of development," he said.

However, the leading member of the ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in southern Sudan affirmed that the emerging southern Sudan state, in case of separation, would not be hostile to north Sudan and it would never seek war.

"The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was basically meant to achieve peace, so separation of south Sudan will never lead to war, " he noted.

"If a south Sudan state is established, it will not be hostile to the north. We are preparing to launch talks to ensure good neighborliness and resolve all outstanding issues through negotiation, dialogue and joint cooperation," he added.

While observers believe the voters would overwhelmingly choose secession, some northern Sudanese people still bear a ray of hope for unity.

"Why separation? We (the north and the south) are one nation. The northerners and the southerners can live together peacefully," 30-year-old Sayed Radi, a mobile shop owner in Khartoum said before the referendum. "The separation of the south will make our country weaker, as we will lose a lot of oil."

The total number of the registered south Sudanese voters amounted to about 4 million, 95 percent of them in south Sudan, about 116,800 in north Sudan and 60,000 in eight overseas countries including Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Australia, the United States, Britain and Canada.

The voting centers in south Sudan amounted to more than 2,600, in addition to about 165 centers in north Sudan states, and some oversea ones.

Around 17,000 local observers together with 1,200 foreign observers are currently monitoring the south Sudan referendum to assess its compliance with the international standards.