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.

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.

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.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow reports from Akobo in southern Sudan.

[August, 19, 2010]