South Sudan: Why we need to care

Kenya: Africa welcomed its newest member in July 2011 after the continent’s largest country, Sudan, split into two. The path to the birth was fraught with bloodshed with its now northern neighbour.

To the Southerners, independence conjured up images of tarmacked roads, good schools, food security, well-equipped hospitals and generally, a happy population. What excited many South Sudanese was the freedom to chart their country’s destiny as they wished. The feeling was just like the 1960s’ independence wave that spread across Africa.