On Sunday, the people of southern Sudan begin deciding whether or not to become the world's newest nation.
本周日，南部苏丹人民将开始决定是否要成为世界上最新的一个国家。

A week of voting is expected to split Africa's largest country in two.
为期一周的投票预计将把这个非洲最大的国家一分为二。

Friday was the final day of campaigning.
周五是竞选活动的最后一天，

Southern Sudanese paraded through Juba, their possible future capital.
南部苏丹人列队通过可能是未来首都的朱巴。

The vote comes from a peace agreement six years ago.
这次投票是根据6年前的一项和平协议。

Almost 4,000,000 people have registered to vote.
近四百万人已做好投票登记。

David Gressly, the top United Nations official in the south, says voting centers are ready.
联合国驻苏丹南部最高官员 David Gressly 表示，投票中心已准备就绪。

security situation is calm.
当前安全局势稳定。

It's been calm for a number of weeks.
它已持续数周。

So we think this is going to start on time.
所以我们认为投票将按时开始。

It will go very peacefully.
投票过程将会非常和平地进行。

Observers from around the world have gathered in Sudan for the voting.
来自世界各地的观察员们因为投票而聚集苏丹。

Final results are not expected for several weeks.
投票的最终结果有望在数周后公布。

Many southerners have been returning from the north.
许多南部苏丹人已经从北部返回故乡。

They fear the unknown.
他们对不确定的未来充满畏惧。

Yet so do many northern Sudanese.
这也包括许多北部苏丹人，

They have urged southerners to vote for unity.
他们督促南部苏丹人投票统一。

But many southerners feel their part of the country has been treated unfairly by the central government in Khartoum.
但许多南部苏丹人认为南部遭受了喀土穆中央政府的不公平对待。

The peace agreement was signed in January of 2005.
和平协议签订与2005年1月，

It ended more than twenty years of civil war between the north and the south.
结束了南部和北部之间长达20多年的内战。

The conflict cost an estimated 2,000,000 lives.
冲突造成了约200万人丧生，

It also prevented most economic development in the south -- one of the poorest areas in the world.
也妨碍了苏丹南部的经济发展，苏丹南部是全球最贫穷的地区之一。

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir visited Juba on Tuesday.
苏丹总统 Omar Al-Bashir 周二访问了朱巴。

He says his government will respect the results of the vote.
他表示其政府将尊重选举结果。

The southern leader, Salva Kiir, has promised the same.
南部领导人 Salva Kiir 也做出了同样的承诺。

Historically, southern Sudan has had greater cultural and economic ties to East Africa than to the Arab-led government in Khartoum.
历史上看，苏丹南部与东非的经济、文化联系要远远大于与阿拉伯人领导的苏丹喀土穆政府的联系。

The north is majority Muslim.
苏丹北部主要是穆斯林。

The south is mainly Christians and animists who follow traditional African religions.
南部主要是基督徒和遵循非洲传统宗教的万物有灵论者。

Forty four million people live in Sudan.
苏丹共有4400万人口。

Estimates of how many of them live in the south are between about 7.5 million and nearly 10 million.
估计居住在南部的人口界于750万到1000万之间。

Most of the oil in Sudan is in the south.
苏丹的大部分石油资源位于南部。

But the oil is processed and exported -- at least for now -- from Port Sudan in the north.
但是，石油的加工出口主要通过北部的苏丹港，至少目前是这样。

Rosie Sharpe from the environmental rights group Global Witness say that means the north and south will have to cooperate.
来自环境权益组织的全球见证人 Rosie Sharpe 称，这意味着南北苏丹需要合作。

The two sides will have to settle other issues of borders, citizenship rights and water.
双方需要解决边界、公民权和水资源争端。

But the biggest issue is oil.
但最大的争端还是石油。

The peace agreement divided oil earnings.
和平协议对石油收入做出了分配.

The south gets almost all of its money from oil.
南部得到了几乎所有的石油收入。

But that wealth-sharing deal ends when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement expires this July.
但那份财富分享协议在今年7月全面和平协议到期时也将终止。

Ms. Sharpe says any future deal needs to be more in the open.
Sharpe 女士称，未来的任何协议都需要更加开放。

She says no one is even sure exactly how much oil Sudan produces.
她说，无人能确定苏丹到底生产了多少石油。

China has the largest oil pumping operation there.
中国在苏丹拥有最大的采油作业。

Justin Willis, an East Africa researcher at Britain's Durham University, says Sudan's oil industry is deep in mystery.
英国英国达勒姆大学的东非研究员 Justin Willis 称，苏丹的石油工业深处谜团之中。

There are complicated special deals involving the output from each of the fields.
各个油田包括产量都存在复杂的、特别的密约。

Unsurprisingly there has been a lot of suspicion in Juba that they are not getting what they are supposed to get, and this really is a very major issue for the future.
朱巴怀疑他们没有得到应该得到的毫不意外，这将是未来最大的争端。