The huge crowds of eager voters still queuing to cast their ballots.

Voting resumed for the third day in Sudan’s landmark referendum which will decide whether the South will secede or it will remain united with the north.

On Tuesday, referendum organizing commission extended the vote hours for the five remaining days in order to cope with the huge crowds which have been turning out.
The huge crowds of eager voters still queuing to cast their ballots at the end of the original 8:00 am to 5:00 pm polling hours of the first two days of voting had left many polling stations struggling to cope.

However the poll was disrupted by unrest in the border region of Abyei, with the southern internal affairs minister Gier Chuang told a news conference Tuesday that ” a convoy of returnees coming from the north to the south were ambushed yesterday (Monday) at about 5:00 pm (1400 GMT) by armed Misseriya. Ten were killed and 18 were wounded."  
Observers fear the latest unrest could spark more fighting amid an otherwise peaceful and jubilant independence referendum in the south.

Martin Nesirky, a United Nations spokesman, said on Monday that the organisation is "extremely concerned" about the reports of clashes and casualties in Abyei.
"The mission is in the process of confirming the numbers (of casualties), and containing the situation with enhanced patrols and engaging with the top leadership," Nesirky said.

Abyei remains the most contentious sticking point between north and south following a two-decade civil war that left some 2 million people dead.
Abyei, which holds oil deposits, had been promised its own self-determination vote, but now whether it remains part of Sudan or joins an independent south will be decided in negotiations that so far have made little progress.

Meanwhile, the South Sudan Referendum Commission said that at least 20 per cent of southern voters cast their ballots in the poll on secession.
"The percentage of those who voted [on Sunday] in the northern states was 14 and in the southern states it was 20 percent," Paulino Wanawilla Unango, of the South Sudan Referendum Commission, said on Monday.

More than 60 per cent of all registered voters must vote for the referendum to be considered valid.
The seven days of balloting are likely to produce an overwhelming vote for secession, with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, has said he will let the oil-rich south secede peacefully.

South Sudan is among the world's poorest regions and the entire region has only 50km of paved roads.
However, most of Sudan's oil is in the south, while the pipelines to the sea run through the north, tying the two regions together economically.