Southern Sudan looks to the future

Electoral officials in Southern Sudan have published the final results from last month's referendum on independence, confirming that almost 99% of people voted for separation from the north.

It comes after decades of conflict between the mainly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north and the south where most people are Christian or follow traditional religions.

The BBC's Africa editor, Martin Plaut, reports from Aweil, the capital of Northern Bahr el Ghazal in Southern Sudan on attempts to bring about reconciliation.

Former rebel commander, Salva Kiir, is the current leader of the region and will become the president of the independent nation.

Mr Kiir joined the Sudanese army after the 1972 peace agreement.

He defected to the rebels on the resumption of fighting in 1983 and emerged as the military leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.

His former personal bodyguard is Jackson Akol Achuil.

When Sudan's peace deal and referendum were being arranged, the views of people from the north and the south were taken into account.

However, for many ordinary southern men and women there is one unchanging reality, the importance of their cattle, which takes precedence over almost everything else, as Martin Plaut reports.

The question remains of what the economic links will be between the two countries.

How will a single integrated economy be divided in two?

Anas Ahmed Fadlallah is a Muslim trader who has remained in Aweil.

First broadcast 7-8 February 2011