Sudan's referendum concludes - in pictures

Polling officials count ballots in Juba as polls closed in south Sudan's landmark independence vote Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Vegetables for sale in a market on the first day after the referendum ended in the border town of Yambio. The locals have suffered a history of violence at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A makeshift camp for displaced southern Sudanese in Juba. Thousands of southerners have returned from the north since the beginning of November, with more than 15,000 arriving during the week-long polling period alone Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

Children outside a church before mass in Juba Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Members of a Christian congregation come together in prayer in Juba Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

A child picks groundnuts in the countryside outside of the town of Yambio, south Sudan Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

South Sudan's president, Salva Kiir, second left, smiles at the end of Sunday mass in Juba. Kiir urged his people to forgive the Muslim north for a devastating 1983-2005 war Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

A man plugs in a solar panel outside of a business in Yambio Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Crucifixes for sale outside a local church in Juba Photograph: Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images

A girl stands outside of a church on the first day after the conclusion of the referendum vote in Yambio Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Yambio, south Sudan Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A southern Sudanese police officer on duty during a referendum cup football match in Yambio Photograph: Khaled El Fiqi/EPA

Ballots are sorted and counted by a polling station worker in Aweil, Bahr El-Ghazal Photograph: Paul Banks/AFP/Getty Images