BBC: A vote for independence in oil-rich Southern Sudan's referendum next year could be catastrophic, the African Union's top diplomat has warned.
In an interview with French broadcaster RFI, Jean Ping likened Sudan's situation to "sitting on a powder keg".
He suggested the nation could once again face north-south conflict and said other areas like Darfur would try to follow the south to independence.
Southern Sudanese are due to vote in an independence referendum next year.
The vote was agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal which ended a 22-year war between north and south.
The BBC's James Copnall, in Khartoum, says it is rare for such a senior official to be so outspoken. >>> | Thursday, January 28, 2010
