South Sudan referendum is 'proceeding smoothly'

BEIJING - Organizers on Tuesday said that a huge turnout at South Sudan's independence referendum has defied gloomy expectations and is almost guaranteed to reach the 60 percent of voters needed to make the poll valid.

Thousands of people took part in the third day of voting in a referendum expected to see the war-ravaged, oil-producing but poor region emerge as Africa's newest state.

The largely peaceful vote in the south has been marred by four days of clashes between Arab nomads and southerners in the contested border region of Abyei.