South Sudan, currently part of Sudan - the largest country in Africa, is holding a historic referendum this week following a 2005 peace treaty, where its citizens will decide whether to remain unified, or for South Sudan to secede and become a new nation. The 2005 treaty brought to an end decades of civil war between the Islamic north and predominantly Christian and animist south. The south is expected to vote by around 99 percent to secede from the north - which will also give it a majority of Sudan's oil. Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir has stated he would honor the vote, whatever the outcome. Should the vote to secede pass, the hard work of defining borders, working out how to share oil revenue and more will have just begun. Collected here are images of Sudanese people participating in this week's vote.
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| A Southern Sudanese voter casts her ballot at a local polling station on the outskirts of Juba on January 09, 2011 on the first day of a week-long independence referendum expected to lead to the partition of Africa's largest nation and the creation of the world's 193rd UN member state. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A handout picture released by the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) on January 3, 2011 shows a UN helicopter airlifting voting materials to Tali in the central equatorial state on January 2, 2010, a week before balloting begins in Southern Sudan's long-awaited referendum on independence. (TIM MCKULKA/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| Southern Sudanese sisters sits in a bus as they arrive in Bentiu after a three-day drive from Khartoum on January 9, 2011, on the first day of a week-long independence referendum expected to lead to the partition of Africa's largest nation and the creation of the world's 193rd UN member state. Tens of thousands of families are traveling back from the north as many believe the referendum for independence will split Africa s largest country in two. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A southern Sudanese security guard stands outside a polling station in Juba as local residents queue on January 9, 2011 to vote in the first hours of a week-long independence referendum. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A mother and her daughter walk to a polling station during the second day of voting for the independence referendum January 10, 2011 in Juba, Sudan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) |
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| A Southern Sudanese man waits with his baby in a bus bound for south Sudan in al-Analdus area in the outskirts of the capital of Khartoum on January 6, 2011, days before a referendum on independence for south Sudan. (KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A Southern Sudanese family waves to relatives from a train to Baher Al Gazal State in South Sudan, in Khartoum January 9, 2011. Southern Sudanese are heading home to the south in such convoys, organized by humanitarian groups in the south, to ensure their vote counts in the independence referendum. (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah) |
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Southern Sudanese voters lean on a wall as they wait to vote at a local polling station in Juba on January 09, 2011 on the first day of a week-long independence referendum. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| A southern Sudanese woman from Nuer tribe shows her registration card as she waits in a line outside a polling station in Bentiu, capital of oil-producing Unity state on the border with the north, to vote on January 9, 2011. Unity state was the scene of deadly clashes between the southern army and renegade militiamen in the run-up to the referendum. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| Southern Sudanese people are seen through a Southern Sudanese flag lining up to cast their votes in Juba, Southern Sudan, Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay) |
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A southern Sudanese voter shows the purple ink on his index finger after voting at a polling station in the southern town of Bentiu, capital of oil-producing Unity state on the border with the north, on January 9, 2011. (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images) |
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| Abeer Osman, The granddaughter of former Prime Minister and President of Sudan Ismail al-Azhari stands near the residence of al-Azhari, which is partially covered by a black cloth to protest against separation in Khartoum January 10, 2011. (REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah) |
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| A southern Sudanese police officer on security detail outside a polling station in the southern Sudanese capital of Juba on Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) |
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| Southern Sudanese line up to vote at dawn in the southern capital of Juba Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) |
