South Sudan: one year on
Oliver and Zerifa in Mundri, South Sudan. They are among 372,000 people who have returned to the south from Sudan.
9 July 2011 marked a momentous occasion: the birth of South Sudan as an independent nation. One year on, the world’s newest nation faces many challenges.
Please pray for peace in South Sudan and Sudan>>
When the people of South Sudan went to a referendum in January 2011 to decide on whether to split from Sudan, the result was decisive. Nearly 99% voted in favour of independence.
Since then, the world’s newest nation has made some positive progress: roads have been built, telecommunications networks are expanding and a transitional constitution has been drawn up.But South Sudan also faces huge challenges. Nine out of ten people in rural areas cannot access drinking water, illiteracy rates are high, and a lack of doctors and health clinics has led to some of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world.
Food crisis
Almost 4.7 million people, more than half the population, are not able to grow or buy enough food to eat. Telly Sadia, our Country Representative for South Sudan, said: "There has been a poor harvest, food supplies in the northern border areas have been constrained by the closure of the border with South Sudan by the Sudan government, and bad roads and rising fuel and food prices have left the country extremely fragile.”
The arrival of tens of thousands of South Sudanese from Sudan, including those fleeing conflict in the border areas, is making the food shortages worse. Since October last year, 372,000 people of South Sudanese origin have returned from Sudan. Many have no means of earning a living, and their arrival adds to the pressure on food, water and basic services like schools and healthcare.
South Sudan: the lost generation comes home>>
A call for peace
Sadly, relations have been deteriorating between Sudan and South Sudan over the last year. This is partly due to unresolved issues in the peace process such as sharing of oil revenues and the final demarcation of the geographic boundary between the two states.
Further unresolved issues are the status of Abyei region, an area lying on the border claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, and the future of the administration of two regions, South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
In a pastoral letter to mark the first anniversary of independence, Paulino Lukudu Loro, the Catholic Archbishop of Juba, and Daniel Deng Bul, the Anglican Archbishop, call for peace between the two nations:
"We dream of two nations at peace with each other, cooperating to make the best use of their God-given resources, promoting free interaction between their citizens, living side by side in solidarity and mutual respect, celebrating their shared history and forgiving any wrongs they may have done to each other.
“We dream of people no longer traumatised, of children who can go to school, of mothers who can attend clinics, of an end to poverty and malnutrition, and of Christians and Muslims who can attend church or mosque freely without fear. We call on the governments of both countries to work towards making that dream a reality.”
South Sudan: your questions answered>>
Please continue to pray for peace and prosperity for the people of South Sudan and Sudan>>
