The AFP is reporting that thousands of South Sudanese showed up for Day 2 of voting on the landmark independence referendum that could result in Southern Sudan becoming the world’s newest state. Massive lines formed outside polling stations in the regional capital of Juba as voters waited to have the opportunity to weigh in on whether to split Africa’s largest nation and attempt to end five decades of North-South conflict. The major turnout was overshadowed by violence in the disputed district of Abyei on the North-South border, where the feuding Misseriya Arab and Ngok Dinka peoples both reported heavy losses over the past three days, totalling at least 33 dead. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Regardless of the election, has anyone figured out how the Sudanese will handle the oil situation, the bulk of which is in the South but controlled by the North? Let’s hope the violence stops and doesn’t turn into another civil war after the landmark vote is tallied. Read more at AFP. In other news: UGA to Mark 50th Anniversary of Desegregation.