Driuni Jakani aims to transform his rural community in southern Sudan from postwar devastation to economic growth and prosperity. He’s already made a promising start. In January, southern Sudanese voted in a referendum in favor of becoming an independent nation. People like Mr. Jakani will be vital to the success of Africa’s newest country. “Right […]

IN ABYEI, SUDAN Southern Sudan brimmed with optimism after a largely peaceful referendum this month that almost certainly will lead to the creation of a new nation. But in the contested border town of Abyei, the mood was somber. In a mud-walled hut, Achol Deng Ngok stacked layers of kissera, a sorghum pancake, she had […]

Abyei, Sudan—In news coverage, the recent violence in Abyei, a contested border region between northern and southern Sudan, has attracted shorthand references to the region as “Sudan’s Kashmir.” But this is a label Kuol Deng Kuol, paramount chief of the Ngok Dinka, the southern ethnic group that lives in Abyei, strongly rejects. Far from being […]

“We have been made promises time and time again” said Deng Arop, the chief administrator of Sudan’s contested Abyei region, referring to the many unimplemented international agreements on the status of this area straddling what may soon be the border between North and South Sudan. “What options do the people of Abyei have left?” he […]

Abyei, Sudan—The week-long referendum on southern independence in Sudan has ended. The southern government is confident that turnout reached the 60 percent threshold needed to make the vote viable, and the Carter Center has issued a statement saying that the referendum was credible. Reports indicate that the vote will overwhelmingly be for secession. But all is […]

Juba, Sudan—As voting continues in this week’s referendum, which is expected to pass, people here in the south are eagerly awaiting the formal announcement that their homeland, finally, will be a free nation. But, just before the vote began, Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir angered southerners when he said, “The south does not have the […]

Bentiu, Sudan—In the center of this southern town, in a dusty public square with just a few trees for precious shade, 19 busloads of people arrived from Khartoum on Sunday, the first day of voting in this week’s historic referendum for independence. They were just a fraction of the 36,800 “returnees” that officials estimate have […]

Bentiu, Sudan—Nyakuoth Jon arrived at a local polling station at 3 a.m. on Sunday, when voting began in southern Sudan’s self-determination referendum. Even at that early hour, she found many people already crowded in line. Jon, the mother of nine children, sat on the ground outside the station (which, any other day, serves as a […]

Bentiu, Sudan—Two days ago, President Omar Al Bashir made what is likely to be his last visit to Juba, the southern capital, as the head of a unified Sudan. Promising to be “the first to recognize the south” if southerners vote for independence in this weekend’s referendum, Al Bashir’s conciliatory tone left people here scratching […]

Juba, Sudan — In just four days, the people of southern Sudan will begin voting in a referendum on whether to become an independent nation. In hundreds of interviews over the past six years here, I have yet to meet a southerner who doesn’t want freedom from northern rule. People here are literally counting down […]