Juba, Sudan (CNN) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir landed at the airport in the southern city of Juba on Tuesday, five days before voters in the region decide whether to break away from the rest of the east African nation.
Al-Bashir is there to inspect the referendum process and meet with other senior officials in South Sudan, Sudanese state media reported.
Speaking to reporters, he reiterated his previous pledge to accept the outcome of Sunday's referendum in South Sudan.
"We are a civilized people," he said. "Regardless of how painful the results are, we will greet the result with forgiveness, and patience, and acceptance, and an open heart, god willing".
Juba would be the capital of an independent south.
Sunday's vote could establish the world's newest country or potentially trigger a renewed civil war in the region. The vote was part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of violence between Sudan's north and oil-rich south that left 2 million people dead, many from disease and starvation. CNN
