PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd – South Sudan

"We the willing, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, with so little, for so long, we are now qualified to do anything, with nothing" By Konstantin Josef Jireček, a Czech historian, diplomat and slavist.

South Sudan adopted Kenya’s worst habits

By Peter Wanyonyi

A common feature of intelligence — even among animals — is to learn from one’s experience. But what should distinguish humans from other animals is the ability to learn from others’ experience, too.

Thus, if your neighbour dies drinking kumi kumi (hooch) at Mama Wakanyi’s shebeen, it is expected that you will not be found patronising the same place the next morning, however thirsty you might be for throat irrigation.

But not in Africa. South Sudan, the world’s newest State, spent decades in gestation, its leadership scattered all around Kenya as their Arab countrymen in the North used them for target practice, as slaves, and as clay pigeons to shoot at for fun.

As most oppressed peoples do — something Kenyan politicians have forgotten — South Sudanese took up arms and started a long civil war, which only recently resulted in Independence and self-rule.

During the civil war, they lived all over Africa and the world — in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the West. Some even managed to trek all the way from Juba to Israel.

One would reasonably expect that South Sudan, being the world’s and Africa’s newest country, would avoid the most obvious pitfalls that African States have faced in their attempts at self-governance. Could be wrong. But one gets the sad feeling that South Sudan is quickly joining the bandwagon of poorly run African states.

Unfortunately, the stakes are much higher for Juba because the population is still armed and has a long experience of fighting bush wars.

President Salva Kiir has to deal with problems that would make even the toughest village chiefs quake. His own tribe, the Dinka, don’t like it that the president has crafted a Cabinet that includes representatives from other tribes in the country. They whine that the few Cabinet and State offices held by Dinka “do not reflect the community’s contribution to the independence struggle”.

Discontent

It appears they, too, want to ‘eat’, just like the ruling elite in many newly independent African states, Kenya included, gorged their tribesmen on the fat of the land.

What cannot be ignored, though, is the discontent and bloodshed that is spreading in the new country. Some NGO even says South Sudan is the place likeliest to experience genocide within the next few years. In the massive Jonglei State — nearly five times the size of Rwanda — for instance, two tribes are involved in vicious civil war. And they are armed with assault rifles, not bows and arrows.

In just one spate of fighting last week, more than 500 people went missing, which is military jargon for presumed dead.

Oil

Corruption is stifling the new State, too — the South Sudanese appear to have heartily taken to heart the Kenyan tradition of kitu kidogo. Corruption is so bad that the cost of doing business in the new country is among the highest in the world. Everyone is on the take and ministers are said to ask openly for bribes to approve deals.

The oil economy just makes it worse. In Africa, where there is oil or minerals, there is phenomenal corruption.

Is it really that hard for the South Sudanese to learn the lessons of the rest of Africa and avoid our shared misfortunes?

http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000054331&cid=349&currentPage=1


Sudan, South Sudan Trade Accusations Ahead of Oil Talks

Wall Street Journal
By NICHOLAS BARIYO KAMPALA, Uganda—South Sudan and Sudan Wednesday accused each other of cross-border attacks in the latest escalation of rhetoric ahead of a summit called to resolve the oil transit spat between the formerly united countries. Col.
South Sudan Inches Closer to Eradicating Guinea Worm
Voice of America
March 21, 2012 South Sudan Inches Closer to Eradicating Guinea Worm Andrew Green | Terekeka,South Sudan South Sudan, the world’s newest country, is on the brink of its first health-care success. Cases of guinea worm have dropped dramatically in the 
South Sudan’s ‘ministry of darkness’ eyes hydropower
Ahram Online
South Sudan is planning to build about half a dozen hydropower and thermal power plants to help end almost permanent blackouts across the country and attract investment to manufacturing industries, an electricity official said on Wednesday.
For Sudan’s Blue Nile refugees, hunger is “like a weapon”
Chicago Tribune
By Hereward Holland DORO CAMP, South Sudan, March 21 (Reuters) – Two-year-old Islam Musa lay in the corner of bed number six as her grandmother, Zena Bade, fed her milk through a tube. Stalked by hunger and aerial bombardment, the pair were among the 
Walden Forum Welcomes ‘Lost Boy of Sudan
Patch.com
The Republic of South Sudan is now the newest country of the world and the 193rd member of the United Nations. It is a country endowed with huge natural resources ranging from wild life to oil, but still it is struggling for good governance, food, 
South Sudan and its north neighbor Sudan have reached an agreement to resolve 
Press TV
After many rounds of talks and negotiations and uncountable threats and accusations,South Sudan has finally come to reach to an agreement with its neighboring Sudan which it seceded from eight months ago. The agreement, which was signed under the
Government: South Sudan Using Humanitarian Barges to Transport Weapons to Renk
Sudan Vision
Khartoum – The government has categorically criticized the actions of the government of South Sudan for employing barges used for expatriation of its citizens stranded in Kosti Port to transport weapons and ammunition to the region of Renk.
Kony Is Not the Problem
New York Times
On the Ugandan side of the border with South Sudan, below a mountainous ridge along the Nile, is a village called Odrupele by locals. It is a place teeming with snakes. Until a few years ago, children walking along the village’s paths were stalked by a 
Pray for Jonglei, South Sudan and Civility
AllAfrica.com
But in Jonglei, the South Sudan’s largest state, both geographically and populously, everybody is arguably a warrior. A warrior is different from a hero. A hero is objective and defined by noble qualities. He can act by his own but for the good of 

Israel threatens to deport South Sudanese, including family reunited after 
Washington Post
That family is among hundreds of South Sudanese Israel plans to expel this month. With the establishment of an independent state of South Sudan in July, Israel is intent on repatriating them and the other 700 to 2000 South Sudanese who live here.

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