South Sudan: The new country has a flag, but not yet an economy

By African Bulletin on July 11, 2011

In January, the southern states have chosen to separate from those of the North: consulted by referendum,

98.8% of southerners voted for independence and proclaimed their independence on July the 9th.    North Sudanese are Arabs and Muslims, the South are black and Christian or animist. Like most African states emerging from decolonization, Sudan, a multiethnic and a multicultural vast country, has never been a nation but an unstable aggregate of tribes speaking a hundred different dialects, with Arabic and English as official languages. The partition will create two states. The North will retain the name of Sudan with 33 million inhabitants and Khartoum its capital, while Southern Sudan, with 9 million, will be a sovereign state, but the ethnic and religious rivalries are threatening the stability of a country missing everything but not oil and none of the problems facing the new state is solved. Although differences persist between the North and the South – starting with the distribution of oil revenues and border demarcation.  One third of Sudan territory is gone to the South with most oil fields, while refineries and pipelines are in the North, generating considerable discussions, and Sudan will not be an easy partner The divorce was granted, but it remains to divide properties in such manner to please the belligerents. The new citizens of the South say they are poor, but free. They have recovered their dignity and development will fellow…Internationally, Sudan – which housed bin Laden in the 1990s – was considered one of the main centers of radical Islamism in Africa, and the partition has always been wished by Western nations.  In a forum, the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, talked about the challenges of the independence of Southern Sudan and promised to have the international community support so that the new country will not sink in repeated crises.