South Sudan faces severe challenges; although 99 per cent of the south voted for independence, the people there are far from united.
ON July 9, South Sudan officially joined the international community as an independent nation. Its President, Salva Kiir, in his speech to mark the historic occasion, said that his people had to wait for 56 years for freedom and dignity. Leaders from all over the world congregated in Juba, the new country’s capital, to witness the birth of Africa’s first post-colonial nation. Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993 but it had been a separate country under Italian colonial rule. There is a fear in Africa that South Sudan could set a precedent. Secessionist movements in Somalia, the Casamance region of Senegal, the Cabinda region of Angola, and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo will no doubt be encouraged by the turn of events in Sudan.