Tuesday, August 23, 2016

South Sudan: Another African resource curse spectacle By Bashir Goth | Special to Gulf News



It is up to South Sudanese leaders to make their country ‘an island of stability’ in Africa or risk following the example of several other nations on the continent endowed with fantastic riches yet bogged down by gut-wrenching poverty

By Bashir Goth | Special to Gulf News
Published: 13:54 August 23, 2016

As the world’s youngest nation and Africa’s 54th state born on July 9, 2011, South Sudan emerged from five decades of war, destruction and untold human suffering where roughly 2.5 million people mostly civilians were killed and more than 5 million others forced to live in squalid refugee camps in subhuman conditions. This was a sacrifice to be remembered.

And remembered it was at the day of Independence when thousands of people poured on to the streets of capital city, Juba, in celebration and the country’s leaders rubbed shoulders with their African counterparts who came to share South Sudan’s moment of glory.

The future looked rosy for the oil-rich country despite the enormous amount of work needed to build a nation from scratch and to heal the wounds caused by the long years of struggle.