Birth of a New Country!

On July 9th, the southern portion of the Sudan seceded from its northern neighbor, declaring itself the Republic of South Sudan. This completes a process that began in 1983, when the Second Sudanese Civil War began. You see, the government of Sudan has always been controlled by the northern Sudanese, who are generally Arab and Muslim. The southern Sudanese, who are generally black and Christian or animist, have traditionally been discriminated against. Jobs, government positions, money for schools, most everything have gone to northern Sudanese. And for the southerners? Well, the region remained impoverished, many were arrested, and many were killed. An estimated 2.5 million people were killed in the genocidal civil war, which only ended in 2005 with a peace agreement that would allow the southerners to vote for a peaceful secession if they wished. In January of this year, southerners turned out in force for the vote, with 98.8% of southerners wishing for independence.

The newest country in the world is going to face many challenges. The region is very impoverished, there is virtually no infrastructure in the country, and very few doctors. On the plus side, they are sitting on a TON of oil! And that means soon a lot of money will be flowing into the country! Woohoo for them! And what to they plan to do with this money? Build their cities into the shapes of animals... So they do have that going for them.