Our Peace, Our Land, Our Oil, Our Liberty

These are the words that welcome visitors to Juba International Airport in South Sudan. Sure, these words appear on a billboard for an oil company, but they do a pretty good job of summing up the political climate in this part of the country. Oil is king. And at this point, if the war between North and South Sudan flares up again, I have not doubt that oil will be at it's core.

I know that I have promised to keep this blog apolitical, mostly for personal reasons. Instead, it's supposed to be about culture, history, and geography. But it's hard to discuss South Sudan without venturing into the realm of politics.



While I will try my best to avoid politics, I think a brief bit of history is necessary. The civil war between North and South Sudan raged for nearly fifty years. The conflict began just a year after Sudan became independent from Great Britain. The country enjoyed a brief decade of peace between 1973 and 1983. But the recent war between the Government of Sudan, represented by the National Congress Party, and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) endured for over 20 years, ending with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005. The CPA established a Government of National Unity for the entire country and granted Southern Sudan semi-autonomy within the country. Southern Sudan is governed by the new Government of South Sudan, which established its capitol in Juba. The President of South Sudan is also the Vice President within the Government of National Unity.

I had the opportunity to visit Juba during the first week of April 2008. I traveled with a Sudanese colleague from UNDP in Khartoum. The two of us spent 5 days in Juba meeting with UNDP colleagues, international partners, and local South Sudanese organizations. Below is a picture of Zeinab and with representatives of the South Sudan Human Rights Commission.


This was my first trip to the South, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Juba is green, notably cooler than Khartoum at this time of year, and more socially liberal than the North. (In other words, alcohol is legal and women wear knee length skirts and even tank tops.) Below is a picture of some mangos hanging over the White Nile in Juba. You really can't beat that! The tropics in all their glory... I was also able to buy some fabulous pineapples and giant avocados. You can't get avocados in Khartoum.


At the same time, Juba is incredibly underdeveloped. When it comes down to it, Juba is basically a large village. Sure, it's undergoing massive construction, but most people still live in tukuls (round huts...the same type of huts they call agdus in Eritrea). There are only two paved roads in all of Juba, and one of them was only completed about a month before I arrived. There is limited electricity and mobile phone service, and even members of the international community live in tents. Below is the OCHA tent camp where I stayed while in Juba. If South Sudan votes to become independent in the referendum scheduled for 2011, I have no doubt that Juba will become the most underdeveloped national capitol in the world.



But I learned something important about myself while I was in Juba: lifestyle matters. And, in my case, I would be happy to give up my Western-style apartment in Khartoum, restaurants, and other modern conveniences for an occasional cold beer and the right to wear a tank top. The fact is, I was much more relaxed in Juba than I've ever felt in Khartoum.

In addition, Juba epitomizes every preconception I had about Africa when I was growing up in the US: people living in mudbrick huts, open air markets, dirt roads, abundant livestock, women carrying things on their heads, people eating on the side of the road, and aid agencies everywhere you turn. Sure, as an adult I realized that Africa has major cities and telephones and ATM machines. But it was fun to see that the Africa of my imagination exists, and exists in a place that may one day be considered a capitol city.


In fact, it seems as if much of the world already thinks of South Sudan as a separate country. There are a number of consulates and possibly even embassies in Juba. They seem quite out of place among the long-horned cattle and mud huts. The American consulate compound in Juba is huge; apparently even larger than the embassy in Khartoum. In addition, the international community (IGOs like the UN and NGOs) are building infrastructure and institutions in South Sudan as if they were building a new country. And I guess they are...just in case.


But in amongst the new, which is everywhere, you also find the old...the history of South Sudan, whether that be the local Chiefs, who still exercise considerable power in this part of the world; these fences, which are everywhere; or relics from the British empire, like this 19th century sign post, which still points to "the Belgian Congo."


I wish I had more to say about Juba, but unfortunately I spent most of my time there working. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the time I spent there. I enjoyed the people, who all seemed more than eager to introduce themselves to me and tell me about what they were doing; the children, who asked to have their pictures taken; and the optimism with which people in the South view the future.