After 21 years of civil war with the North, the semi-autonomous region of southern Sudan is due, in the coming weeks, to take part in the country's first democratic elections in a generation.<br /><br />Despite the fact that it is still reeling from a decades-long civil war, the South is widely expected to vote for full independence in a referendum guaranteed under the terms of Sudan's 2005 peace deal in January 2011.<br /><br />However, recent floods in south Sudan, have left more than four million people on the brink of starvation - an indication of some of the enormous challenges now facing a turbulent, war-ravaged region.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Akobo in southern Sudan.<br /><br />[August, 19, 2010]
