Biden meets Southern Sudan leader

Nairobi, 10 June-(ANA)-US Vice-President Joe Biden has met the President of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir while in Kenya on the second leg of his Africa trip.

The pair discussed a referendum due next year when the semi-autonomous southern region will be given the chance to vote for full independence.

A Sudanese official said that Mr Biden pledged US technical and financial support for the referendum.

Mr Kiir, who won polls in April, is the first elected president of the region.

The elections were part of a peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the north and south.(ANA)

FA/ANA/10 June 2010-------