Nor could it claim a right to secede anyway if the talks bogged down.

ECONOMIST: It��s Quebec, again

The southerners were eventually promised the right to secede, which Darfur's rebels want too.

ECONOMIST: Darfur: Never say never again | The

Many Kurds, though sure to vote yes, are cross that the document includes no right to secede.

ECONOMIST: Ballots amid the bullets and bombs | The

Neither South Ossetia nor Abkhazia, the report says, had the right to secede from Georgia and Russia's recognition of their independence was illegal.

ECONOMIST: The Russia-Georgia war

The government is theoretically offering the south the right to secede, a right enshrined in the country's three-year-old constitution, but in fact is fighting to prevent it doing so.

ECONOMIST: Sudan

Lord Irvine says that the Scottish Parliament has no legal right to hold such a referendum, let alone to secede on the strength of one.

ECONOMIST: Sunshine and showers