South Sudan becomes world's newest nation

South Sudan becomes world's newest nation

09 July, 2011 | Associated Press
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South Sudan became the world´s newest nation early Saturday,
officially breaking away from Sudan after two civil wars over five
decades that cost the lives of millions.

In the new country´s capital, Juba, streets pulsed with excitement.
Residents danced, banged on jerry cans and chanted the name of
the world´s newest president, Salva Kiir. One man kneeled and
kissed the ground as a group ran through the streets singing "We will
never, never, never surrender."

"Ah, I´m free," said Daniel Deng, a 27-year-old police officer and
former soldier who broke out in a wide grin.

The Republic of South

Sudan earned independence

at 12:01 a.m. Saturday,

breaking Africa´s largest

country in two. It marked

the culmination of a January

independence vote, which

was guaranteed in a 2005

peace deal that ended the

most recent north-south war.

After the celebrations die down, residents of South Sudan face an
uphill climb. While the new country is oil-rich, it is one of the poorest
and least-developed places on Earth. Unresolved problems between
the south and its former foe to the north could mean new conflict
along the new international border, advocates and diplomats warn.

Saturday´s early morning celebrations were joyous for the freedom
gained but tinged with the memories of family lost. At least 2 million
people were killed in Sudan´s last civil war, fought from 1983-2005.

"I came here for this moment," said Chol Allen, a 32-year-old
minister who escaped Sudan in 2003 and eventually settled in
Memphis, Tennessee. He returned to Juba two months ago for the
midnight party, though he plans to go back to the U.S., where he
has a 4-year-old daughter.

"We were all born into war. All of us," he said, then pointed at a
crowded pick-up truck of youngsters. "This generation will see the
hope of the newborn nation."

John Kuach, a former child soldier who joined the army after his
father died in fighting with the north, first fought at age 15. At dinner
late Friday, he draped the South Sudan flag around his shoulders
and called Saturday "a big day."

"But some people are not happy because we lost heroes, those who
were supposed to be in this celebration. So we are thinking, ´Is this
true? Is this a dream? A new country?´"

The internationally brokered 2005 peace deal that ended more than
two decades of north-south war expires at midnight Friday. That´s
when Sudan — which South Sudan is breaking away from —
officially recognized the new country.

South Sudan is expected to become the 193rd country recognized
by the United Nations next week and the 54th U.N. member state in
Africa.

Later Saturday, world leaders will attend a celebratory ceremony. U.
N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon already has arrived. Former U.
S. Secretary of State Colin Powell also will attend, as will Sudanese
President Omar al-Bashir, whose country already has recognized
South Sudan.

The young government faces the huge challenge of reforming its
bloated and often predatory army, diversifying its oil-based
economy, and deciding how political power will be distributed
among the dozens of ethnic and military factions. It must also begin
delivering basic needs such as education, health services, water and
electricity to its more than 8 million citizens.

Abdule Taban wore a wide smile during the night´s street party, but
the 25-year-old was also reflective.

"In independence we are going to have hospitals and schools and a
lot of development around here. Our mothers and sisters died in the
past. Hospitals were very far from us," said Taban, as South
Sudanese dusted in white cow dung — a traditional camouflage here
— danced around him.

A draft constitution passed this week lays the groundwork for the
president and legislators, who were elected last year, to serve out
their five-year terms. The legislature´s few opposition lawmakers are
unhappy with the draft, but it now serves as an interim constitution
until multiparty elections are held.

A $1 billion yearly U.N. peacekeeping mission with a 10,000-
member peacekeeping force has monitored implementation of the
2005 peace deal. The mission has drawn criticism for its failure to
protect Sudanese civilians caught in violence along the north-south
border and in the south, where conflict has killed nearly 2,400
people this year alone.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously approved a new
peacekeeping force for South Sudan, authorizing the deployment of
up to 7,000 military personnel and 900 international police, plus an
unspecified number of U.N. civilian staff including human rights
experts.

The Obama administration has devoted considerable time to
ensuring the fragile peace deal holds.

With the raising of South Sudan´s flag in the world´s newest capital,
Juba, the international community may breathe a collective sigh of
relief that independence has been reached. Al-Bashir has pledged to
accept losing about one-third of his country´s territory, an area that
contains valuable oil fields.

But relations between the two already are looking bleak, with
hostilities raging between northern troops and southern-allied forces
in a northern border state, a tense stalemate over another disputed
border zone, and a breakdown in negotiations this week over the
future of Sudan´s oil industry.

While South Sudan is now expected to control of more than 75
percent of what was Sudan´s daily oil production, it has no refineries
and southern oil must flow through the north´s pipelines to reach
market.

North-south negotiations under way in the Ethiopian capital this
week broke down over disputes between the two sides over how to
resolve the ongoing crisis in the Nuba Mountains region in northern
Sudan, where black Africans from the Nuba tribe have taken to
caves to take shelter from aerial bombing by the northern army in
the past month.

Western diplomats say hostilities in that area have stymied efforts to
resolve other critical outstanding issues between the governments.
Princeton Lyman, the U.S. envoy to Sudan, said Friday that
relations between the south and north will be "strained and a little
rocky."

"I don´t expect that these countries are going to love each other but
I do think they are bound up in each other," he said, citing the
dependence north and south have on each other for trade and
especially oil, which is the lifeblood of the economies of both
governments.

Oil has been a major sticking point at the negotiating table, and
tensions worsened after the northern army´s seizure of the disputed
zone of Abyei in May.

Despite calls from the Security Council and others to remove its
troops from Abyei after they displaced about 100,000 residents, the
Sudanese Armed Forces continue to occupy the Texas-sized
territory.

The 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) border is disputed in five areas,
several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or
southern troops.

"Everyone is for peace in and between Sudan and South Sudan,"
said John Prendergast, founder of the Washington-based Enough
Project.

"It is clear that as long as the government of Sudan can without
consequence militarily occupy Abyei, bomb the Nuba Mountains,
continue military operations in Darfur, and support militias in
southern Sudan, then there will be no peace," said Prendergast, who
urged the U.S. government to work with allies to create "significant
costs for ongoing human rights abuses and broken agreements."

Courtesy