J-3 before the referendum on independence for South Sudan. The African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) provides logistic support and particularly air support to carry polling material to the different voting centers.
06 January 2011: UNAMID staff loading votation material, for the upcoming referendum on South Sudan’s independence, in an UNAMID Mi-8 helicopter in El Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].
06 January 2011: Members of the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) carry polling material brought by UNAMID in El-Lait village, North Darfur, Sudan. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].
06 January 2011: Nepalese Special Operation soldiers, peacekeepers with UNAMID, provide security to UNAMID staff in the field, in El-Lait, North Darfur, during a distribution of polling material for the upcoming referendum on South Sudan’s independence. [Click on the picture to enlarge it].
Olivier Chassot 
I’m interested in following this story, as I have Sudanese students who have been regularly bringin the referendum up as a point of concern for them. What is your sense of the activity/feeling in Sudan at this time?
I am in Darfur and can therefore not speak about the whole Sudan or South Sudan. Here in Darfur, many South Sudanese have left in the last months and returned to South Sudan. The ones remaining (about 25’000 pers.) are a bit anxious and curious to see what will happen and how it is going to influence their life, if it does.