Scare tactics feared in Sudan vote on split

  Under a tree by a dusty street in Khartoum, university graduates are preparing to head home.
They have a long journey ahead of them as these former students will travel from the north of Sudan to their homeland in the south.

Africa's biggest nation however could soon be a lot smaller, and this is no ordinary home-coming for the graduates. They are preparing to register to vote in the referendum for Southern Independence in January.
Next month's referendum will allow people from the Southern half of Sudan to choose their own path: stay with the government or go it alone as an independent nation.
Since independence in 1956, there have been lengthy periods of civil war between North Sudan, where most of the political power lies, and South Sudan, where oil fields have since been found.
The predominately Muslim North has wanted to unify the country with Islamic ground rules despite deep-seated cultural and religious differences in the South.
This North-South conflict is separate from the Darfur violence, which is undergoing its own tentative peace process.
Source:http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/17/sudan.vote.fears/index.html