PHOENIX — Wol Dhieu Akujang’s long wait for freedom to come to his village in war-ravaged Sudan began 20 years ago with a perilous 1,000-mile walk.
At age 6, he endured choking thirst, aching hunger and the constant terror of ambushes as he and hundreds of others traveled to a refugee camp in nearby Ethiopia. Then came safety in the United States.
On Sunday, he and thousands of other Sudanese refugees will head to the polls in eight U.S. cities to decide whether the southern Sudan should secede from the north, creating the world’s newest country.
“It’s a vote to be able to determine our own destiny, to have dreams,” said Akujang, 27, who lives in Tucson. Roughly 600 so-called Lost Boys like Akujang have resettled in Arizona.
Almost 4 million voters registered in the past several months, including 116,000 southerners who live in Sudan’s north and 60,000 in the U.S., Canada, Australia, Britain, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.
“For the first time, I feel like I have a say in the process. I have a say in determining my own future and the future of south Sudan,” Akujang said.
With the vote, however, comes a sobering reality. The fresh taste of freedom and the joy of potential reunions with their lost families will quickly be replaced by the difficult work of building a nation wracked by a 21-year civil war.
The war between the Muslim northern government and predominantly Christian southerners left about 2 million people dead. More than 1 million fled the north to escape the fighting.
Next week’s vote is the culmination of a 2005 peace deal. And last month, thousands of Sudanese in caravans traveled hundreds of miles to the polling sites, from Phoenix to Boston, to register to vote.
As independent observers watch, polling staff at each U.S. site will count the votes immediately after polls close Jan. 15 and announce them that night. The results will be sent to the commission in Sudan.
Southerners are expected to vote overwhelmingly for secession. The referendum needs 50 percent plus one vote to pass, along with a 60 percent turnout of registered voters.
