Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese President, has said that the north will take on all of Sudan's nearly $38bn debt if the south decides to secede, former US president Jimmy Carter told media on Monday.
Carter is in the country as an international observer, and said that "in a way, southern Sudan is starting with a clean sheet on debt".
Polls opened on Monday for the second day of voting in southern Sudan's historic referendum to determine whether the region will become an independent nation or continue to be part of Sudan.
On Sunday, the first day of voting passed off largely peacefully but more clashes in the disputed border region of Abyei left at least six dead. The region remained tense on Monday, a local official told Al Jazeera.
Monday's proceedings in south Sudan were altogether much quieter than the first day, which saw crowds throng polling stations in Juba and other towns.
More security personnel could be seen voting after Sunday’s heavy deployment of forces to secure Juba for dignitaries visiting to observe the beginning of the historic process.
“As many people could not vote yesterday in Juba centres, there is a proposal to extend the polling by an hour till 6pm,” said Abuk Nikanora Manyok, the public outreach director at the South Sudan Referendum Bureau.
She said the decision whether or not to extend polling hours will be taken by the South Sudan Referendum Commission in Khartoum by Monday evening.
“Women are now going from house to house to mobilise those who have not voted to go out and vote,” Manyok said.
She said voting is slowly picking up in remote areas as people have to walk long distances to reach polling centres.
The number of people who have voted will be known only towards the end of the process, Manyok said.
Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Juba, said that voter turnout of southerners in the north was very low on the first day, possibly because many people travelled to the south to vote.
