South Sudan World's Newest Nation

[tarunraju]

BBC News - South Sudan becomes an independent nation

 

[tarunraju]

 

[Tomcat]

The flag of South Sudan was adopted following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War.The flag was previously used as the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The flag is similar to the flag of Kenya with the addition of a blue triangle and gold star at the hoist. The colours are said to represent the South Sudanese people (black), peace (white), the blood shed for freedom (red), the land (green) and the waters of the Nile (blue); the gold star, the Star of Bethlehem, represents unity of the states of South Sudan

The design consists of an African Fish Eagle standing against a shield and spears. The eagle is depicted as looking towards its left shoulder with wings outstretched and it holds in its claws a scroll bearing the name of the state. The eagle signifies strength, resilience and vision with the shield and spears representing protection of the new state.

 

[amoy]

Oilfields mostly located in the South (landlocked), but being pipelined to the North for export through Port Sudan.

How will they divide petrodollars? Will they split both the rice and the bowl?

Quite a dilemma for both as neither seems to have many alternatives other than agriculture and mineral （if any).

 

[sandeepdg]

They have already started quarreling over how to share the money from oil and gas exports. Plus there's a new pipeline proposed from South Sudan to Kenya, possibly to the port at Mombasa. I think this is mainly to have an option if Sudan tries to arm twist the Southerners with the issue of oil transport through the sole pipeline running through Sudan.

 

[sandeepdg]

South Sudan becomes world's newest nation

JUBA (South Sudan): 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 at least 2 million people.

Residents of the new nation - the Republic of South Sudan - danced in the streets, banged on jerry cans and chanted the name of the world's newest president, Salva Kiir.

South Sudan earned independence at 12.01 am on Saturday, the culmination of a January independence vote guaranteed in a 2005 peace deal that ended the most recent north-south war.

Saturday's early morning celebrations were joyous for the freedom gained but tinged with the memories of family members lost.

Chol Allen, a 32-year-old minister, 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 US.

"I came here for this moment," he said. "We were all born into war. All of us," he said while pointing at a crowded pick-up truck of youngsters. "This generation will see the hope of the newborn nation."

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

"We are brothers and sisters who suffered for a long time and that's why we are now celebrating, what we will achieve," said Taban, as South Sudanese dusted in white cow dung - a traditional camouflage here - danced around him. "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."

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

John Kuach, a former child soldier who joined the army after his father died in fighting with the north, first fought at age 15. He said Saturday was a big day for the new nation.

"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?"'

South Sudan becomes world's newest nation - The Times of India

 

[Yusuf]

There is a better route to go via Ethiopia.

 

[Tomcat]

There is a better route to go via Ethiopia.

Yusuf bahi they can route the oil through Kenya

 

[Yusuf]

Yusuf bahi they can route the oil through Kenya

Yes possible route. Point being the south does not have to go via north to ship it's oil.

 

[pack leader]

yhe ha

i am shocked that they didn't put galil on their flag in accordance to African tradition
we have been arming and training these people for years
i guess our investment just payed up
long term cheap oil agreement is in the works

:thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb::thumb:

 

[Oracle]

Congratulations! May your new country prosper!

 

[Shaitan]

I hope for the best for this country. I hope it doesn't get ruled by a dictatorship or a one party rule..

 

[amoy]

we have been arming and training these people for years

hedge on both sides? (*_*))

The best building in Juba capital of the newborn repulic is a two-storied Beijing Hotel

 

[civfanatic]

I give it 10 years before it becomes another failed state.

 

[mayfair]

I give it 10 years before it becomes another failed state.

Can hardly be worse than being a part of Sudan itself innit?

That said, congrats to the new nation. Hope you use your wealth and resources judiciously to better the lives of your people.

I wish to say the same words to the people of Baluchistan and Tibet in a few years from now.

 

[Yusuf]

Wonder why they named their country as southern Sudan and not a new name altogether? Sudan is an Arabic name and southern Sudan has now nothing to do with them, though there are a minority of them over there.

 

[nrj]

Indian hand in South Sudan constitution

"South Sudan has watched the political and constitutional developments in India with great interest and believe that there is a lot that a country like South Sudan can gain from that experience," said Sandeep Shastri, pro vice-chancellor at Bangalore's Jain University who is helping draft the statute of the country.

"South Sudan is looking at the experience of democracies like India," Shastri told IANS in a telephonic interview from his office in Bangalore, India's IT hub.

An international consultant with the Forum of Federations, a Canada-based think-tank, Shastri is the only Indian involved with public debates being held across South Sudan, a country of over 8 million people, in the run-up to framing the constitution.

Interestingly, India's first election commissioner Sukumar Sen conducted elections in undivided Sudan nearly 60 years ago.

The Republic of South Sudan, that came into being after residents of the land-locked territory voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to secede from the rest of Sudan, will officially celebrate the founding of the nation July 9 (Saturday) in its capital Juba as Africa's 54th nation.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari will represent India at the celebrations.

Shastri said he had an intensive dialogue with political parties including the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling party in South Sudan, on the federal process and underlined that federalism could be a solution to challenges faced by multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural societies.

Shastri, whose interest in Sudan was kindled way back when he struck friendship with Sudanese while studying in Afghanistan in the seventies, said the powers-that-be in South Sudan were looking at the Indian constitution and the Indian experience, with a special focus on federalism.

"Like the Indian constitution, the interim constitution does not refer to the country as federal even though (like in India) all the features of a typical federal system are enshrined in the constitutional document," he said.

He pointed out to an intense debate in South Sudan on a feature of their interim constitution which permits the president to dismiss the state governments, which is very much similar to Article 356 in the Indian constitution.

With capacity building a major thrust of India's Africa policy, Shastri plans to host a two-year MA in Public Administration to officials from African countries at Jain University, a deemed university.

"Bureaucrats, civil society activists and young politicians are enthusiastic of looking to countries like India as they believe that experience of societies like India would be very useful to them," he said.

Some sceptics have voiced doubts that given formidable developmental challenges, South Sudan, whose territory is roughly the size of France but lacks in roads and basic infratructure, may not survive for long as an independent nation.

But such cynicism is not for Shastri. "I would prefer to be an `incorrigible optimist` on this point and believe that South Sudan has a great future as a nation," he said.

(Manish Chand can be contacted at [email protected])

Source

 

[Blackwater]

After this, we must work and see on another country in making" Independent Republic of Baluchistan"