ARTICLE: Violence Grips South Sudan as Vote Nears, By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, New York Times, December 11, 2009

Been waiting on this one for a while: the vote on whether the southern portion secedes from northern Sudan.

Naturally, as the moment nears, violence will increase:

Southern Sudan, one of the least developed and most war-haunted parts of Africa, is at a critical point, gearing up for a vote on independence that is likely to break an already volatile Sudan in two. It is the culmination of decades of civil war and an American-backed peace treaty to end it, but as the long-savored day approaches, many south Sudanese fear another devastating war is on the horizon.

If it really gets out of control, it will be hard for the West and even the busy US to ignore. It will also re-raise the issues of China's involvement with the central government (to include arms sales).

Sudan, a Brit colonial creation, has always been one of the fakest states: a south and north stitched together for no other reason than it made sense to the British who excelled at creating big, internally-torn (and thus weak) states that were easier for them to rule with few forces.