Two New Nations

This represents one very subjective, specific and scrappy reflection on post-independence South Sudan, influenced by and penned during my own travels back to the UK. There is a broader piece coming, but the original version has been lost in transit. I'm currently rewriting to make i more relevant and contemporary. In the mean time I hope this is of interest.

In leaving one new country behind I passed through another. Egypt is experiencing a rebirth and it's future is being argued out by two parents; the supreme, authoritarian, paternalistic, conservative military and the street: outspken, contradictory, dynamic, RADICAL. The history of ages hangs around the city, the pyramids and tombs, the mosques, the monuments and, now, the graffiti of January 25th and the deluge thereafter. Tahrir Square remains an autonomous space, policedby the community, sweeling and cntracting as meetings and demonstrations emerge daily. Youthful exuberance and enthusiasm bounces around from the pubescent boys checking IDs at the entrances to the robed imams and the entrepeneurs selling coffee, water and t-shirts lauding the 'facebook revolution', fuelled by a continued sense of injustice and unfinished business. There is a hunger for genuine, lasting change in the country. The military government that replaced Mubarak have responded to some demands and stonewalled others as the Autumn elections creep closer. The continued use of military courts for civilians and hesitation to prosecute police responsible for beatings and killings during the first flushes of the revolution are particular points of contention at present. Nothing is settled and the pungent stench of sensibility hangs in the air just a strong as the perfume, shisha or sweage you might experience elsewhere on thestreets of Cairo depending upon which corner you turn.

The citizens of Egypt seem to have little conception of what's happening a couple of thousandmiles South where their neighbour Sudan, at one time in the not too distant past under the joint colonial rule of the UK and Egypt, has finally parted company with it's Southern region to create a brand new state, the Republic of South Sudan. Where Egypt has infrastructure, tourism and a major profile in both the Arab world and farthr afield 'ROSS' enters the world a fledging full of poential and posessed with it's own sense of liberation, after over fifty years of conflict and before that of imperialist occupation. Whilst South Sudan is keen to establish itself as an active member of the East African economic bloc it's people could do worse than establish dialogue with their peers in Egypt and other North African states as they face their own new dawns. One vacuum at present in South Sudan is the lack of vocal, critical civil society willing to take risks in engaging with government, something Egypt has clearly exhibited this year and that has even inspired some mobilisation in neighbouring East African states Uganda and Kenya.

Over the past two decades,with South Sudanese support united behind the militant resistance movement of SPLM/A, now the dominant political force, and against the common enemy in the North, there has been a lack of pluralistic political discourse. Of course in Egypt the nonviolence and immediacy of the revolution has seen its ambiguities played out live for the world to see; secular groups and Islamists, urbanite modernists and rural traditionalists, united in struggle and vocal in disagreement about the future to come. Over the long, bloody and dehabilitating struggle in South Sudan local groups and NGOs have been stretched to their limits providing essential services such as education and healthcare that a government, then absent, now established, should aguably take responsibility for, and have understandably focussed their efforts there rather than on ideological debate or advocacy. The South Sudanese government has an opportunity, and a right, to prove itself, and no-one is accusing Salva Kir of wanting to be a Hosini Mubarak or even a Youseveni Museveni quite yet, but without an informed and vocal citizenry pushing it on, and helping shape it's vision and culture, there is a serious risk that the existing corruption, repression and inequality in the country could become entrenched and intensifed over time.

Of course the histories and circumstances of Egypt and South Sudan differ widely. However the power of one party, the lack of a consensous over the validity and equality of the constitution and the the key role of the military in South Sudan, not to mention the keen interest and influence of major international players, not least of course modern day empire in the form of the US, are all characteristics shared with Egypt to some degree. As the South Sudanese government enters the world with a four year mandate, on top of five years as the interim administration, there is enough time for activists in the community, particularly those in potential powerful lobbies such as the church, to judge the governments intentions and performance and develop their critical voice. Ultimately this can only strenghen the nation as a whole.

Two key developments that could support this process are the development of a more incusive public sphere (political debate at present seems very Juba focussed and elitist) and a focus on basic literacy across the country. Now most areas do not get newspapers and rely on what radio coverage is available but should circulation increase as infrastructure for transport and commerce improves then the population needs to be able to read and engage with the issues. The elitism mentioned above could be a product of the heavily disrupted education system and the divide between those who were cut off from education during the conflict and those lucky enough to study at higher levels in the west or Khartoum. If the government wants a productive populace and a healthy challenge to keep it on it's toes a serious investment in mainstream and adult education is essential.If not then the onus is on the community to take responsibility for such change on it's own terms, which could set the stage for future confrontations with the state. A new country such as South Sudan, with all of it's internal divisions and insecurity, can ill afford such a divide between the people and the state at such an early stage.