"We will announce today, in front of the world, that we accept the result and we respect the choice of southern Sudanese," Bashir said.

Hours after final results were poised to confirm south Sudan’s secession from the north in January referendum; Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said Khartoum accepted the choice of separation.

"We will announce today, in front of the world, that we accept the result and we respect the choice of southern Sudanese," Bashir said in a speech to women and students at the headquarters of his ruling National Congress Party.
"The result of the referendum is well known. South Sudan has chosen secession. But we are committed to the links between the north and the south, and we are committed to good relations based on cooperation."

The final results of the January 9-15 referendum were due to be confirmed at a ceremony in Khartoum later on Monday, attended by Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir, one week after preliminary results showed almost 99 percent of south Sudanese voted to split with the north.

Bashir, who had already recognized the prospect of partition, renewed his commitment to protecting southerners in the north, and pledged to work to resolve all outstanding issues between the north and south ahead of the creation of Africa's newest state in July.
But he warned that any resolution to the future of the flashpoint border region of Abyei must accommodate the rights of the Arab nomads, who migrate there each year looking for pasture for their cattle.

"We will not be a part of any solution to that does not reserve the rights of the Misseriya. Voting in the Abyei referendum is the right of all citizens, and there are no second-class citizens because they are nomads," he said.