Joy as the world waits to welcome the youngest African state

The party of the decade will erupt in Juba this Saturday when Southern Sudan officially becomes the world’s newest state.

The independence July 9 of South Sudan is seen by analysts as possibly the most significant development in modern African history since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago.

It will be a symbolic turning point in the long running conflict in Sudan that has cost more lives than any other since the Second World War. It will result in the breakup of Africa’s largest country and significantly alter the political and economic boundaries of the East African Community, the continent’s most cohesive regional bloc.

“This is a truly historic moment,” said Vice-President Kalonzo Musyoka, one of the key mediators during talks in and near Nairobi that resulted in an agreement on a referendum for self-determination. “Not many generations live to see the birth of a new nation.

It is a delight for Kenya to welcome the new state to the East African Community where she will naturally find a home.”

They will be partying in many capitals across the world, too, from Nairobi to Kampala to Washington to Sydney where hundreds of Southern Sudanese took refuge from the many years of war that took up to a million lives.

Serving in the bush

Head of Southern Sudan mission in Kenya Michael Majok Ayom, who took a bullet in the thigh while serving in the bush with John Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Army, will be one of those celebrating the new dawn.

“This has a lot of meaning to me and many other freedom fighters,” he said.

“Our objective when we went to war was to have a Sudan where all people are treated the same. One side did not share that goal, and we felt ultimately that independence was the only way we could have a just society.”

The economic potential of the new state is immense. Southern Sudan holds the bulk of oil deposits in the country.

According to the North, the revenue from oil in the last six years has been on average about US$2 billion per year (about Sh172 billion) although the South insists those estimates are routinely revised downwards to deny them their rightful share of oil revenue.

Southern Sudan also abounds in untapped natural resources.

It has significant gold deposits and is traversed by a large section of the White Nile. It also has some of the best unexploited tourist attractions in Africa and has a great wildebeest migration similar to the one that draws thousands of tourists to Kenya and Tanzania every year.

The country has rich agricultural land that, according to estimates, could feed most of sub-Saharan Africa if properly exploited. Its agricultural resources are also being eyed by international investors seeking to engage in the biofuel industry.

This unexploited economic potential is seen as likely to have a huge effect on the economies of neighbouring countries.

“I am resolutely bullish about the prospects of Southern Sudan,” said investment banker and analyst Aly-Khan Satchu.

“This is a potential game changer, and Kenya is well positioned to benefit. Kenya’s economy rides on the coattails of its neighbours.