Sudanese consider 'EU model' as solution to oil question

An EU monitoring mission in Southern Sudan has issued a largely positive preliminary verdict on last week's referendum on independence, although the border area of Abyei remains an ongoing concern.

Speaking to EUobserver from the northern capital of Khartoum on Monday (17 January), the mission's chief observer, Socialist MEP Veronique de Keyser, described the southern vote on whether to split from the country's northern region as a "credible process".

"We are happy and relieved,...