By Jason Benham and Jeremy Clarke
JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Millions of jubilant south Sudanese voted Sunday in an independence referendum expected to see the largely non-Muslim region splitting away from the Arab-led north to create Africa's newest nation.
People queued for hours in the burning sun outside polling stations in the southern capital Juba, and many were turned away as the first day of voting in the week-long ballot ended around sundown. Southerners view the poll as a new beginning after decades of civil war and perceived repression by north Sudan.
"This is the moment the people of southern Sudan have been waiting for," southern president Salva Kiir said after casting his ballot, urging people to be patient as they waited to vote.
"I am voting for separation," said Nhial Wier, a veteran of the north-south civil war that led up to the vote. "This day marks the end of my struggles. In the army I was fighting for freedom. I was fighting for separation."
African nations who hope to profit from a new neighbour but fear the split could buoy secessionists in their own countries will watch closely as Sudan agrees the mechanics of a split -- a disputed border, citizenship and sharing of the key oil resources are all still potential flashpoints.
Hours after voting started, the celebratory atmosphere was marred by reports of fresh fighting between Arab nomads and tribespeople associated with the south in the contested oil-rich Abyei region that borders north and south.
The referendum was promised in a 2005 peace deal ending a civil war which has raged on and off since 1955, fuelled by oil and ethnicity, between the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most people follow Christianity and traditional beliefs. The war left two million dead and displaced four million people.
The deal allowed Juba to create a semi-autonomous government with its own constitution, laws and parliament.
In the north, the prospect of losing a quarter of the country's land mass -- and the source of most of its oil -- has been greeted with resignation and some resentment.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who campaigned for unity in the run-up to the vote, has been making increasingly conciliatory comments and this month promised to join independence celebrations, if that was the outcome.
President Barack Obama said Saturday a peaceful, orderly referendum could help put Sudan back on a path towards normal relations with the United States after years of sanctions.
In Juba, actor George Clooney and U.S. Senator John Kerry mingled with dancing and singing crowds dressed up to the nines. Voters waiting outside one polling station burst into a rendition of the hymn "This is the day that the Lord has made."
"It is something to see people actually voting for their freedom. That's not something you see often in your life," Clooney told Reuters.
SADNESS IN NORTH
In the north, emotions were also running high. "We feel an incredible sadness that a ... very loved part of Sudan will separate from us," said northern opposition Umma Party official Sara Nuqdullah.
"We must now work to reassure the northerners in the south and southerners in the north and the tribes in the border zone that they will not be harmed," she said, breaking down in tears.
The vote's organising commission told Reuters it had defied gloomy forecasts of delays to deliver all voting materials on time for Sunday's deadline.
The logistical achievements have not been matched by political progress. Southerners went to the polls without knowing how the two countries will share assets, debts or disentangle a complicated citizenship issue.
The two sides have been locked in negotiations for months over how they might share out oil revenues -- the lifeblood of both their economies -- and settle other issues after secession.
The south also will have to face up to its own internal ethnic rivalries and a bitter dispute with the north remains over the ownership of the central Abyei region, where there were reports of clashes Sunday for the third day in a row.
Norway, Britain and the United States, who formed a troika to support the 2005 peace deal, welcomed the start of voting as a historic step in a joint statement, but added: "The situation in Abyei remains of deep concern."
Polls were due to close at 1400 GMT, but voting hours would be extended from Monday until 1500 GMT, the commission said.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Heavens and Opheera McDoom in Khartoum; writing by Andrew Heavens; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
