Today was a historic day for Southern Sudan. Across the vast, underdeveloped, France-sized region, southerners lined up to register to vote in the January self-determination referendum. Here is what that looked like in one town.
Visits to remote areas of Southern Sudan make it difficult to imagine how Southern Sudan’s new status as an independent country will immediately change the lives of cattle keepers and farmers across the south.
A trip to one town in South Sudan shows how oil profits fund a patronage network that keeps the Southern Sudanese government running. But is this model of governance sustainable?
JUBA, Sudan—Southern Sudan’s ruling party is continuing its overtures to southern military and political forces whom it angered before and during the disputed April elections process, pursuing a simple but clever strategy that the party badly needs to succeed.
RENK, Sudan--In the northernmost point of Southern Sudan, the challenges facing the south as it looks toward independence are starkly evident, but not in the way I imagined before arriving in this surprisingly developed and bustling town roughly 30 miles from Sudan's north-south border.
Nicholas Kristof, and advocates like George Clooney, deserve great credit for using their considerable platform to highlight the struggles of the Sudanese people. But portraying South Sudan as a "ticking time bomb" does not reflect reality I see here every day.
MALUAL AKAN CATTLE CAMP, Sudan--Cattle are at the center of the Dinka culture in Lakes state. The story of Mabany Dut Akot helps to illustrate why cattle are also linked to the violent insecurity plaguing heavily armed areas of the south.
MELUT, Sudan--If you've been reading news from Southern Sudan, you may have read a statement along the lines of "analysts widely predict that the south will vote for separation." From the perspective of journalists like me who are writing these articles, this line is a bit of of a cop out, but the sentiment in Southern Sudan is so overwhelming pro-secession that it seems wrong not to mention it.
