Sudan — A senior politician in South Sudan says the south will declare unilateral independence if it does not get a fair referendum on the issue. Pagan Amum, the secretary general of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, said the governing National Congress Party was trying to obstruct the vote.

He said the NCP was insisting that 75% of southerners vote for independence before the south could leave Sudan.

The NCP has not commented on the voting majority needed in the 2011 poll.

"We are warning the National Congress - we are also alerting the people of southern Sudan- that we have a serious problem," Mr Amum said. "The National Congress is poised to betray the people of southern Sudan again."

"We are not threatening anything at all," he said. "We are saying that any attempt to deny the people of southern Sudan the right to self-determination will force the people of Southern Sudan to declare a unilateral independence."