South Sudan

Southern Sudan, which recently carried out a referendum on seceding from the north, will be named the Republic of South Sudan upon independence, officials in the regional capital of Juba said Sunday.

While the name is not yet official, members of a steering committee on post-independence governing said the decision, made last week, could be announced as early as Feb. 14, when final results from this month's historic referendum come out.

According to the latest ballot figures, about 99 percent of southern Sudanese voters have chosen separation from the mostly Arab north after decades of brutal civil war. The north is under U.S. economic sanctions and Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes in the Darfur region.

"We've had South Korea, North Korea, South Vietnam, North Vietnam," Marial said. "South Sudan and North Sudan."

According to Marial, more than a dozen potential names had been put forth, but the Republic of South Sudan was chosen out of familiarity and convenience.

"It is the easiest one for the time being; there are already many things with that name," he said, referring to numerous ministries and agencies already using that name. "It makes it easy to transform the government."

Marial said the committee's recommendation would be  passed along to a higher council for a final decision, but he was not expecting any resistance.