Big Eritrea vote for freedom

Eritreans voted overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia, provisional results of a referendum showed, Reuter reports from Asmara.

Amare Tekle, head of the Eritrean referendum commission, said tallies of the UN-monitored vote showed 99.8 per cent of votes cast were in favour of independence. He said 98.2 per cent of the electorate had voted. Voting in the three-day referendum, which capped Eritrea's 30-year struggle for independence from Ethiopia, ended on Sunday.