Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Sudan’s former civil war foes will reach agreement within two days on laws for a referendum that will allow the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan region to vote on whether to secede, spokesmen for the two sides said today.

Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party and the south’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, known as the SPLM, “will reach an agreement on all outstanding laws” within 48 hours, foreign ministry spokesman Moawya Othman Khaled said in a phone interview in Khartoum, the capital. SPLM spokesman Yien Mathew confirmed the agreement in a phone interview today.

The referendum, which is set for 2011, is part of a 2005 peace agreement that ended two decades of civil war. The accord formed the semi-autonomous administration of Southern Sudan and made the SPLM a junior partner in the central government in Khartoum. The deal also allowed Southern Sudan to receive 50 percent of the revenues from oil production in the south.

Representatives from the two parties have agreed that Southern Sudan will be become an independent nation if 51 percent of the voters choose secession. President Umar al- Bashir’s Congress Party argues that voter turnout must be at least 66 percent for the vote to be valid, while the SPLM wants a lower percentage.

The two parties have also been deadlocked over several laws, including a security bill that the SPLM says gives intelligence services loyal to the ruling party vast powers.

To contact the reporter on this story: Maram Mazen in Khartoum via Cairo at mmazen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 9, 2009 04:27 EST