10th Anniversary of Independence: 10 Years Later, the Republic of South Sudan
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There were great celebrations and high expectations when South Sudan finally seceded from the Sudan on July 9th, 2011. Yet, barely a year into South Sudan’s much-hyped independence, the country has failed miserably to live up to expectations. It has been gripped by both external and internal problems that are threatening to tear it apart in its infancy. Nevertheless, there is hardly any regret among South Sudanese citizens for the 98% overwhelming vote they gave for South Sudan’s independence from Khartoum.
BBC, PaanLuel Wel, 26 June 2012
On 26 June 2012, as South Sudan was preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of its independence in July 2012, I penned an opinion article for a discussion on the BBC, “Viewpoint: South Sudan has not lived up to the hype“, on whether or not the world’s newest country had, then, lived up to the hype of independence–the promise of the liberation struggle.
On the 5th anniversary of South Sudan’s independence, Amer Mayen Dhieu and I co-authored an opinion article, one that was much more optimistic than the former, to mark the fifth anniversary of our independence. Coincidentally, it was posted on the very day that guns were blazing at J-1.
2. July 9th and the beckoning of civic duty in South Sudan
As we commemorate the landmark 10th anniversary of South Sudan’s independence, we ought to remind ourselves of the revolutionary and painful journey, the era of armed liberation struggle, that brought us this country, pitiful as it might be. Even though the last 10 years have been a bitter lesson in “the same monkeys in different forest,” crowning it with the NCPLM taking over the government in Juba, there is no regret nor reverse gear for the independence of South Sudan.
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