RIYADH: The Saudi government said it hopes the decision of largely African Christian southern Sudanese to secede from mainly Arab Muslim north Sudan would bring peace to their region. It "expressed hope. That the result of (the) referendum in Sudan would foster peace between the north and the south" and help build "good neighbourly and friendly relations," the cabinet said in a statement late Monday. Final results announced earlier on Monday of a January independence referendum for south Sudan showed that 98.83 percent had voted for secession, paving the way for the declaration of a new state in July. The vote was the centrepiece of a 2005 peace deal that ended a devastating 22-year conflict between north and south that killed around two million people.
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