South Sudan's Juba dancing -- Khartoum sad and defiant
By Ulf Laessing and Jeremy Clarke
KHARTOUM/JUBA | Sat Jul 9, 2011 12:55pm EDT
(Reuters) - For thousands of southern Sudanese it was a night to stay out dancing to welcome the birth of their new nation. For people in the northern capital Khartoum it was a time of sadness mixed with defiance.
South Sudan, where most follow Christian and traditional beliefs, became independent on Saturday after a January referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the Arab Muslim north.
While the south rejoiced at finally getting its freedom from the dominant north, for people in Khartoum the secession brought not only the loss of a third of the territory and much of the country's oil resources but also a profound feeling of sadness.
Others in Khartoum were defiant, insisting the north -- where 80 percent of the 40 million Sudanese live -- was a better place without the south with which it fought for too long.
"It's the best solution for all that they became independent. We are too different, we have a different religion, a different culture," said Saleh Ahmed Ali, a high school teacher.
"Sudan's unity was a mistake as history has proven. Now we can go our own way and don't need to listen to the needs of the south," said El-Tayyib Mustafa, the group's head
Other northerners admitted that the northern economy might be heading for tougher times after the loss of 75 percent of the national oil production now located in south Sudan.
Others danced near a statue of the late civil war hero John Garang that was unveiled by southern president Salva Kiir, cheering as helicopters flew overheard.
The US formally recognizes South Sudan, world’s newest nation
By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, July 9, 6:55 AM
WASHINGTON — The United States is recognizing the Republic of South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, as a sovereign and independent state.
A Fragile Freedom in Sudan
It is a day when the 54th member of the African Union shall be born
Sadly, what should be shaping up as a celebration of freedom for 8.2 million Southern Sudanese is being marred by renewed military brutality against innocent people at the hands of armed Islamic militia and Sudan’s army
Our organization, Samaritan’s Purse, has worked in Sudan for nearly two decades—operating three hospitals, including the largest in the South where we treated hundreds of thousands of patients, and rebuilding 440 churches that were destroyed during the war. I have met with President Bashir on three occasions to discuss my organization’s work in his country. In 2003, I met with Bashir in his presidential palace and specifically asked if Christians would be able to build churches and worship freely. “We will take the responsibility to rebuild the churches,” the president told me. “It will be our duty, even if a blind man can’t reach a church, it will be our duty to help him reach it.” Another empty promise.
Recently, Northern forces invaded Abyei, driving more than 100,000 innocent people from their homes. Now Khartoum’s military is bombing the Nuba Mountains and has burned down churches that we had rebuilt in Kadugli. A Sudanese pastor just wrote to us with this plea: “With grief today, I want to inform you that the new church is burned down. We have lost everything. The house where my staff lives was looted, and the offices were burned. Many people fled from town, but some stayed. There is no food or water now for them. There are only soldiers all over the streets. We need prayer.”
Recently, Northern forces invaded Abyei, driving more than 100,000 innocent people from their homes. Now Khartoum’s military is bombing the Nuba Mountains and has burned down churches that we had rebuilt in Kadugli. A Sudanese pastor just wrote to us with this plea: “With grief today, I want to inform you that the new church is burned down. We have lost everything. The house where my staff lives was looted, and the offices were burned. Many people fled from town, but some stayed. There is no food or water now for them. There are only soldiers all over the streets. We need prayer.”
If ever there were a people who needed the help of the global community, it is those living in South Sudan, and particularly the areas on or near the North-South border—Abyei, South Kordofan/Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile.
Many international observers now fear signs of a new genocide in these fragile North-South border areas. A U.N. report found that Khartoum’s recent behavior in Abyei was “tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” Having worked throughout Sudan for nearly 20 years, I have followed this crisis closely as Samaritan’s Purse has provided $100 million in relief to Sudan.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/world/2011/07/south-sudan-celebrates-birth-raising-flag
http://www.sfexaminer.com/news/world/2011/07/south-sudan-celebrates-birth-raising-flag
South Sudan celebrates birth with raising of flag
07/09/11 10:39 AM
07/09/11 10:39 AM
Saturday meant that South Sudan and its black tribesmen would for the first time be linked politically with sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya and Uganda are already laying strong economic ties with their northern neighbor, an oil-rich country that may one day ship its oil to a Kenyan port, instead of through the pipelines controlled by Khartoum.
"From today our identity is southern and African, not Arabic and Muslim," read a hand-painted sign that one man carried as he walked through the crowds.
The U.S. and Britain, among others, announced their recognition of South Sudan as a sovereign nation.
The U.S. and Britain, among others, announced their recognition of South Sudan as a sovereign nation.
Sudan President Omar al-Bashir, a deeply unpopular man in Juba, arrived to a mixture of boos and murmurs. He stood beside Kiir and smiled during the ceremony, and said in a speech that he respected the south's choice to secede, even as he prodded Obama "to meet his promise and lift the sanctions imposed on Sudan."
The U.S. has promised economic and political rewards to Khartoum if it allows the south to secede peacefully, but military standoffs in the contested border region of Abyei and new fighting in South Kordofan — a state in Sudan with many south-supporting residents — risk new north-south conflict. The U.S. has indicated that those issues need to be resolved before normalization of relations occur.
The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday's independence declaration.
The black African tribes of South Sudan and the mainly Arab north battled two civil wars over more than five decades, and some 2 million died in the latest war, from 1983-2005. It culminated in a 2005 peace deal that led to Saturday's independence declaration.
Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and the American envoy at Saturday's celebration, urged South Sudan residents and leaders to build a country worthy of the sacrifice of all the lives lost during the five decades of conflict.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pointedly noted that Sudan and South Sudan have not yet resolved the status of Abyei, where northern and southern troops are standing off.
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.
It follows on the heels of East Timor in 2002 and Montenegro in 2006 which quickly became full-fledged members of the United Nations after being recognized by the vast majority of the international community within a few weeks or months of independence. Kosovo, however, declared its independence in 2008 and is recognized by 76 nations, but is still waiting to be recognized by the U.N.
Though Saturday was a day of celebration, residents of South Sudan must soon face many challenges. Their country is oil-rich but is one of the poorest and least-developed on Earth. The 1,300-mile north-south border is disputed in five areas, several of which are being illegally occupied by either northern or southern troops.
The young government must also begin delivering basic needs such as education, health services, water and electricity to its more than 8 million citizens. 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.
But for Saturday, at least, those problems lay on the back burner.
Bashir at South Sudan’s independence day a problem
Invited foreign delegations don’t want to meet with indicted Sudanese leader
By Ashish Kumar Sen The Washington Times , 7:04 p.m., Thursday, July 7, 2011
JUBA, SUDAN — Sudanese President Omar Bashir’s decision to attend South Sudan’s independence celebrations in Juba on Saturday has created potentially awkward situations for delegations from countries that have been pressing for his arrest on a war crimes indictment.
South Sudanese officials are sensitive to these largely Western concerns and are choreographing a delicate diplomatic dance to avoid awkward encounters.
“If the U.S. delegation decides to meet with President Bashir, I will not attend,” Mr. Payne told The Washington Times in email.
Barrie Walkley, the U.S. consul general in Juba, said there are no plans for the U.S. delegation to meet Gen. Bashir. “That is U.S. policy,” he said.
A senior Western official in Sudan, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said southern officials have assured the diplomatic corps in Juba they will do everything to avoid any embarrassments.
A special seating arrangement has been worked out to minimize the possibility of blushing faces.
African delegations that have been largely sympathetic to Gen. Bashir will be seated on his side. Western and non-African delegations will be seated on Mr. Kiir’s side.
“That way, when the heads of the Western delegations come up to give a speech they won’t have to walk past Bashir.”
