– With the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the raising of its new flag, South Sudan became a republic and being the 193rd nation of the world on.
Under a blanket of moist, oppressive heat, tens of thousands gathered in a field surrounding the mausoleum of John Garang, the late rebel army leader who is considered the father of the nation, and shouted deliriously as the flag of Sudan was lowered and that of South, raised.
"I feel great," said Samuel Malual through a wide smile as he watched the new flag go up. "We have waited so long for this. It means we are no longer oppressed."
At long last they were officially a sovereign nation, no longer attached to their longtime nemesis in the North, against which the South fought two civil wars over five decades, leaving about 2.5 million dead.
By habit, at one point the announcer used the term "Southerner" to refer to the people.
"We aren't southern to anyone anymore!" a sweaty Paul Manyok shouted back, to the nods of those around him.
"We are South Sudanese. We are the Republic of South Sudan."
The new President, Salva Kiir, signed a transitional constitution and then took the oath of office. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide in Darfur, looked on.
Delegations attended from countries around the world, and the United Nations.
Some notables included former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who played a large role in the forging of a 2005 peace agreement that led to a referendum and today's secession, and Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general.
Officially, South Sudan became an independent country as of midnight local time. And Southerners partied throughout the night. Those with cars honked their horns and spun up clouds of dust on the dirt roads. Music seemed to come from everywhere.
The Republic of South Sudan becomes the 193rd country and Africa’s 54th state.
But the country is also described by a whole set of other numbers far less flattering. They illustrate a fledgling nation that is starting from a point of utter misery.
The vast majority of people live on less than a dollar a day. The highest maternal mortality rate in the world. A 27 per cent literacy rate. To just name a few.
And there are security threats both from within the new nation and without.
The government and its Sudan People’s Liberation Army are dealing with several rebel insurrections in Upper Nile state and elsewhere. It claims Khartoum is arming these rebels, a charge the North denies.
There are bloody inter-tribal conflicts, between Nuer, Dinka and Merle tribes especially, that continue to erupt and kill dozens, hundreds.
And most threatening of all, there is the growing enmity with their former nemesis in the North.
Khartoum faces serious economic consequences from the separation, since about 80 per cent of Sudan's oil exports come from the South.
Bashir's forces have since May launched attacks or occupied several disputed border areas. In May his troops invaded Abyei, a region around which there are rich oil deposits. Abyei is contested and was supposed to hold its own referendum on its status, which has now been put off indefinitely.
Bashir also continued Khartoum’s aggression against anti-government elements by launching vicious attacks against SPLA soldiers and sympathizers in South Kordofan, but also by targeting civilians.
The targeting of civilians has long been a tactic used by the Muslim and Arab North’s forces in its conflicts in the South, the Nuba Mountains, and Darfur, where it used its Antonov bombers and fighter jets and militias on horseback on the ground to wage war over ethnicity and religion, along with oil and power.
Islamist government officials weren’t afraid of using the word “jihad” to describe their efforts.
The South is primarily black African and Christian or animist. In Darfur they are mainly Muslim but many tribes are not Arab.
But the South fought against the imposition of Sharia Law by Khartoum and what it considered extreme governmental neglect. Indeed, over 50 years of fighting, still there were no proper paved roads in Juba, South Sudan’s capital.
Sudan has maintained public attention abroad, especially during the armed conflict in Darfur thay began in 2003. The fact that many Hollywood celebrities have taken up its cause has also helped.
Under a blanket of moist, oppressive heat, tens of thousands gathered in a field surrounding the mausoleum of John Garang, the late rebel army leader who is considered the father of the nation, and shouted deliriously as the flag of Sudan was lowered and that of South, raised.
"I feel great," said Samuel Malual through a wide smile as he watched the new flag go up. "We have waited so long for this. It means we are no longer oppressed."
At long last they were officially a sovereign nation, no longer attached to their longtime nemesis in the North, against which the South fought two civil wars over five decades, leaving about 2.5 million dead.
By habit, at one point the announcer used the term "Southerner" to refer to the people.
"We aren't southern to anyone anymore!" a sweaty Paul Manyok shouted back, to the nods of those around him.
"We are South Sudanese. We are the Republic of South Sudan."
The new President, Salva Kiir, signed a transitional constitution and then took the oath of office. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted on charges of genocide in Darfur, looked on.
Delegations attended from countries around the world, and the United Nations.
Some notables included former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who played a large role in the forging of a 2005 peace agreement that led to a referendum and today's secession, and Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general.
Officially, South Sudan became an independent country as of midnight local time. And Southerners partied throughout the night. Those with cars honked their horns and spun up clouds of dust on the dirt roads. Music seemed to come from everywhere.
The Republic of South Sudan becomes the 193rd country and Africa’s 54th state.
But the country is also described by a whole set of other numbers far less flattering. They illustrate a fledgling nation that is starting from a point of utter misery.
The vast majority of people live on less than a dollar a day. The highest maternal mortality rate in the world. A 27 per cent literacy rate. To just name a few.
And there are security threats both from within the new nation and without.
The government and its Sudan People’s Liberation Army are dealing with several rebel insurrections in Upper Nile state and elsewhere. It claims Khartoum is arming these rebels, a charge the North denies.
There are bloody inter-tribal conflicts, between Nuer, Dinka and Merle tribes especially, that continue to erupt and kill dozens, hundreds.
And most threatening of all, there is the growing enmity with their former nemesis in the North.
Khartoum faces serious economic consequences from the separation, since about 80 per cent of Sudan's oil exports come from the South.
Bashir's forces have since May launched attacks or occupied several disputed border areas. In May his troops invaded Abyei, a region around which there are rich oil deposits. Abyei is contested and was supposed to hold its own referendum on its status, which has now been put off indefinitely.
Bashir also continued Khartoum’s aggression against anti-government elements by launching vicious attacks against SPLA soldiers and sympathizers in South Kordofan, but also by targeting civilians.
The targeting of civilians has long been a tactic used by the Muslim and Arab North’s forces in its conflicts in the South, the Nuba Mountains, and Darfur, where it used its Antonov bombers and fighter jets and militias on horseback on the ground to wage war over ethnicity and religion, along with oil and power.
Islamist government officials weren’t afraid of using the word “jihad” to describe their efforts.
The South is primarily black African and Christian or animist. In Darfur they are mainly Muslim but many tribes are not Arab.
But the South fought against the imposition of Sharia Law by Khartoum and what it considered extreme governmental neglect. Indeed, over 50 years of fighting, still there were no proper paved roads in Juba, South Sudan’s capital.
Sudan has maintained public attention abroad, especially during the armed conflict in Darfur thay began in 2003. The fact that many Hollywood celebrities have taken up its cause has also helped.
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source:-thespec.com
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