Dubai: Confidential UN documents, revealed yesterday, warned that 2.8 million people might be displaced in Sudan if fighting breaks out over the south's January independence referendum, which has sparked fears of a renewal of civil war.

The documents were revealed as the leaders of Sudan, Egypt and Libya vowed to respect the outcome of the referendum and the will of the southerners. Just over two weeks remain before voters in Southern Sudan decide whether to remain with the north or, more likely, to secede.

Tensions are high over the vote. A UN report said northern and southern militaries have been rearming, and many southerners possess guns and light weapons. Both militaries have reinforced their positions along the border in recent months, hindering aid work, the report said. If either the north or the south doesn't accept the results of the January 9 referendum, the result could be a "war-like" situation, it said.

"A deterioration of the North-South relationship, as well as tensions within northern and southern Sudan could lead to large-scale outflow of people to neighbouring countries," said the UN's humanitarian contingency plan.

The north and south ended a two-decades-plus civil war with the signing of a 2005 peace accord that also guaranteed the south the right to hold an independence referendum.

Meeting

In Sudan's capital Khartoum, the leaders of Egypt and Libya met Sudan's President Omar Al Bashir and southern Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi have both called in the past for the nation to remain united. After yesterday's meeting, the leaders issued a joint statement calling for a "peaceful, calm, transparent and credible environment that will reflect the will of southern Sudan's people", according to Sudan state radio.

Egypt is almost totally dependent on the Nile for its water, and is watching the vote closely for any effect on current pacts that give it most of the river's annual flow. It has also aired worries that the referendum could trigger violence and an influx of Sudanese migrants into Egypt.

Gaddafi warned in October that southern secession could spur separatist movements across Africa.

— With inputs from AP and Reuters