When I arrived in South Sudan in November 2005, the scars of war were everywhere.
Intermittent power came from generators, there was no clean drinking water, schools were little more than benches under mango trees, and the telecommunications system relied on expensive satellite phones. For the first six months of my four-year stay, I lived in a tent, albeit one affording me more protection than the millions of Southern Sudanese displaced by conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
With the ink just dry on the much-anticipated Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 9 January 2005, jubilation and a sense of possibility prevailed.
Six years later, on 9 July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan became the world's newest independent state. After a difficult birth, borne out of decades-long conflict and immeasurable suffering, the nation celebrates its first birthday today.
Congratulations are due to the South Sudanese people for showing the world that having held the country together during the six-year long peace agreement period, they have been able to face the challenging transition to becoming a democratic nation. But South Sudan is not out of the woods yet and as a country with one of the largest South Sudanese diasporas, Australia has a special role to play in nurturing the new nation's development.
The road to Juba
In 2005, South Sudanese refugees who had been in camps in neighbouring countries, or living as displaced people in Sudan's capital Khartoum for decades, were making plans to return home on barges down the Nile river or trekked perilous roads southward.
What they returned to find was a region long neglected from years of civil war. South Sudan had less than 50 kilometres of paved roads, many littered with landmines and unexploded bombs. In addition to non-existent infrastructure and an urgent need to improve critical health, social and educational indicators throughout the country, South Sudan faced many political tests during the peace agreement period.
Perhaps the most serious was the sudden death in 2005 of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement leader – Dr John Garang, just weeks after he was sworn in as President of South Sudan. Dr John, as he was known to all, was the charismatic, unifying figure during the civil war. He negotiated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on behalf of South Sudan. His place was filled by Salva Kiir, who remains the current President of South Sudan.
Many doubts about the future for South Sudan disappeared last year as we watched the jubilation of South Sudanese who, from the world's newest capital city of Juba, to the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, voted in last year's referendum for independence from Sudan.
A parlous state
As the flag of the Republic of South Sudan was raised on 9 July 2011, I was reminded that independence is merely another stage on South Sudan's path to peace with an incredible amount of work still to be done.
Reaching agreement with Sudan on territorial rights to oil fields and sharing oil revenue has quickly risen to the fore as critical issues in need of a resolution. Sudan and South Sudan are rich in oil resources and although some privately call this a curse rather than a blessing, oil provides a sizeable revenue source to both the north and south, with a small proportion distributed to oil producing states, such as Abyei.
In spite of much effort, including international arbitration, the promised north-south border demarcation has not happened and in recent months tensions have spilled over into conflicts that have seen more lives lost. With oil-rich Abyei on the border, demarcation must be resolved as a matter of urgency.
