Sudanese Christians who have barely a month to leave the north or risk being treated as foreigners are starting to move, but Christian leaders are concerned that the 8 April deadline set by Islamic-majority Sudan is unrealistic.
“We are very concerned. Moving is not easy. . . people have children in school. They have homes. . . It is almost impossible,” Roman Catholic Bishop Daniel Adwok, the Khartoum archdiocese auxiliary told ENInews in a telephone interview on 7 March.
Sudan in February announced the deadline for the former citizens it had stripped of nationality after South Sudan’s January 2011 vote to secede. The ultimatum will affect an estimated 500,000–700,000 people, who are mainly Christians of southern origin that still live in the north.
Many of them fled north during the long civil war fought between the Government of Sudan and the former rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. They have lived there for decades together with children who were born there. Few have ties with South Sudan.
Refugee and human rights groups have criticized Khartoum's deadline, pointing out that many of the refugees displaced from the South have spent their entire lives in the Sudan and have a legitimate claim on Sudanese citizenship.
South Sudanese girl hanging flag ahead of Independence Day
The boundaries on Africa's maps will once again be re-drawn, this time as the newest nation in the world readies itself for full independence from Sudan on Saturday. After a decade of civil war with Khartoum and an uneasy five year cease-fire, celebrations marking the formation of the new state are set to get underway in the South Sudanese capital of Juba on Saturday. This new nation will be slightly smaller than the state of Texas in terms of size.
South Sudan President Salva Kiir meeting with President Bush in 2009
The Republic of South Sudan came about as a result of the internationally-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the South and Khartoum that was signed in Nairobi. The terms of the 2005 ceasefire included six years of autonomy from Khartoum followed by a referendum on independence which took place earlier this year. Voters in the south overwhelmingly approved of secession from northern Sudan by a nearly 99% margin. The population of the South is largely Christian or Animist while the northern Sudan is majority Muslim.
There is also the problem of exporting the oil, since the new country is land-locked and the only pipelines into and out of the south are to Port Sudan and and easily be cut off if hostilities between the two nations resume.
Reveller in the capital city of Juba
The days and weeks leading up to the independence day have been marked with skirmishes with the northern militias and attacks on refugees. As recently as May of this year, forces from South Sudan and Sudan traded artillery fire and the Sudanese air force bombarded the region around the border town of Abyei.
South Sudan's unofficial boundaries are shown in green- Darfur's is shown in Blue
While already the South is facing challenges in the form of prices rising on food and consumer goods, the vote may be considered a setback for the al-Bashir regime in Khartoum as well. Some analysts speculate that al-Bashir becomes known as the man where Africa's largest nation split up under his watch, that could undermine his authority in the rest of Sudan and causing him to be forced out of power and replaced by somebody who may not honor the outcome of South Sudan's referendum.
Although this might've come up before, it's worth noting that while South Sudan is relatively oil-rich, it would continue to be dependent on the rest of Sudan to export in in the foreseeable future, as Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo would be the only other countries it borders that aren't landlocked. Links to other bordering countries like Uganda or Ethiopia involve highways that aren't even paved (or nonexistent in many cases).
However, the relatively peaceful (so far) transition from breakaway province to independent state in a particularly bloody region on a strife-torn continent is noteworthy in and of itself. Another issue that the South Sudanese have to deal with is whether or not to retain the name of the country they just broke away from or call them something different altogether.
The voting is expected to be relatively peaceful, although the referendum is the culmination of a prolonged bloody civil war that left nearly 1 million dead. It is widely expected that oil rich and majority Christan South Sudan- which consists of roughly the southern ⅓ of Sudan- will vote overwhelmingly to break with the Khartoum regime of Omar al-Bashir (who has an international warrant from the International Criminal Courts from 2009).
However, even if the referendum passes and Khartoum peacefully accepts South Sudan's secession from the rest of the country, the new nation would be faced with a number of political and logistical challenges. Although rich in timber and oil, South Sudan is landlocked. Aside from Kenya, a potentially belligerent Sudan and the perennially unstable Democratic Republic of the Congo, the countries bordering South Sudan would also be landlocked [for the record, the Darfur reigon that caught the attention of so many Hollywood types is in the Western part of Sudan and bordering Chad- NANESB!].
The shortest route for exports would be to the northeast and the Red Sea port of Port Sudan. While there is talks of constructing a rail link with Uganda to the south, the new nation would be dependent on the goodwill of Khartoum and the al-Bashir regime in the near term.
There is also a high infant mortality rate and it's believed there are only three functioning hospitals in the nearly 240,000 square mile autonomous region at present.
Well...the Lakers beat the Celtics in a come-from-behind 83-79 win in a decisive Game 7 of the NBA finals Thursday night. But instead of relying on my description of it, let's go straight to the highlights....i.e the torching and rioting of downtown LA by celebrating Lakers 'fans'.
Well, besides this looted shoe store, the trash bins, newspaper stands and kiosks torched, the smashed storefront and restaurant windows, buses and light rail trains pelted with rocks, bottles and more trash bins there was also the taxi driver who was assaulted and had his cab torched by 'rowdy' Lakers fans. But don't worry! There's going to be a parade or something.
In the meantime, the cabbie (who actually works for a living- a foreign concept to the genius arsonists posing for the cameras) is going to be out at least $10,000 thanks to the numerous braindead thugs and shitstains chanting 'light it up!'. Anybody who can identify the persons seem setting the blaze is asked to call the LAFD Arson section at (213) 485-6095.
In the meantime, I'll just cry myself to sleep over the 17 or so banners hanging up in the gahden.
Elsewhere in the NBA: Manute Bol- the 7ft 7 Sudanese shot blocker who spent a decade in the NBA before working on humanitarian causes in his native country- passed away at the University of Virginia hospital in Charlottesville, VA Saturday. Bol, 47, was being treated for liver and skin problems at the facility. A spokesman for the nonprofit Sudan Sunrise aid group said that Bol was working to complete construction of a school in his home village of Turalei in southern Sudan and the organization was aspiring to build 40 more schools throughout the strife-torn country.
MLB: OK....so one Boston-LA series didn't go our way, but there's always the MLB and inter-league play. Which as you know, means the long-awaited Papi-Manny reunion at Fenway. Papi held up his end of the deal, getting a 2-run homer in the bottom of the first along with JD Drew's solo shot in Friday's game. PawSox call-up Felix Doubront pitched five innings, giving up 3 earned runs on 6 hits (as well as two unearned runs on Doubront's 3rd inning error) good for his first Red Sox win while Manny went 1 for 5 with a run scored and two strikeouts while Papi went 1 for 2 with 2 RBI. Boston took Game 1 of the series 10-6 on Friday.
Saturday's game was a little closer and Manny managed to generate some offense for the Dodgers. Tim Wakefield got the start and went 5 innings giving up 3 earned runs, including a solo home run from Manny to cut the Boston lead to 4-2. LA would tie it up in the 7th with a Bill Hall fielding error on Blake DeWitt's double and a Matt Kemp sac-fly.
Garrett Anderson had a leadoff single off of Papelbon to start off the ninth, but Pap left the pinch-runner Reed Johnson on third after getting Blake DeWitt to ground out and Matt kemp to fly out. In the bottom of the ninth, Daniel Nava reached on a fielder's choice and scored from second on Dustin Pedroia's single off of Jonathan Broxton for the walk-off 5-4 win.
Tomorrow's series finale will feature Hiroki Kuroda taking the mound for the Dodgers against Clay Buccholz. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN. The Red Sox have won 5 in a row heading into Sunday's game.
WORLD CUP: Damn- first I miss the USA's 1-1 tie with England (which apparently isn't the powerhouse everybody expected it to be) and then I miss Team USA getting robbed of a come from behind win over Slovenia thanks to rookie Mailian referee Kouman Koulibaly disallowing what would've been the go-ahead goal for team USA in the 86th minute of Friday's game against Slovenia. It's probably worth noting that the equalizer for USA came off of Micheal Bradley- the son of USA coach Bob Bradley- in the 82nd minute as well.
The USA had to settle for a 2-2 tie with the Slovenes and face a must win scenario against Algeria next week if they want to advance [the conspiracy theorist in me thinks that this was arranged by FIFA to see if the USA would have it's 1st ever full-fledged soccer riot, but that's just me- NANESB!].
NCAA FOOTBALL: More moving and shaking going on out West. With the addition of Boise State to the Mountain West Conference, the Utah Utes announced they'd be leaving for the Pac 10 conference effective 2011. The Utes football program last played in the increasingly less-sucky Poinsettia Bowl at San Diego in December 2009, getting a 37-27 win over the Cal Golden Bears.
