Keena Wilson
16 February 2011
South Sudan Jonglei attack by Athor rebels 'killed 200'
Blog # 5
Late last month the first official announcement of results from South Sudan’s independence vote was made. The referendum on independence for the oil-rich south was part of a deal to end decades of north-south conflict. A total of 99.57 percent of those polled voted for independence. Cheers and spontaneous dancing broke out in the streets of South Sudan. But, last week, the streets once filled with laughter and cheers were replaced with the awful sounds of fighting and screaming. Officials say 200 people were killed in what they termed a “massacre”. Most of the killed were civilians, including children, the elderly, refugees, and several priests were chased into a river by rebels. Others were said to have died fighting in the south’s most populous state, Jongli. Fighters loyal to rebel leader George Athor were those that were responsible for the massacre. Athor blames the fighting on the southern army. The deaths came as the region was preparing for independence from the north. A senior official of South Sudan’s ruling party accused the north of backing the rebel attacks, but the north denied these accusations. The week-long referendum vote itself passed off peacefully and Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has promised to accept the outcome of the referendum, but tension remains high in parts of the oil-rich area which straddles the north and south. Southern Sudan is to become the world's newest independent state on 9 July.
When I read this article I thought about how others will deal with the problems of this developing nation. A question I have would be about the oil that Sudan has; will this division between the north and south affect other nations that may receive oil from them? What about Sudan itself? Sudan is going to be divided, so that may affect its relationship with particular nations as well as the rest of the world. Countries, like Sudan, that may have multiple political parties and some expression of speech have issues when it comes to tackling some of the problems that trouble its society. This is exactly what happened in this article, North and South Sudan probably could not commit to a single way to solve the issue, because there were too many ideas operating on how to solve it. Any suggested solution to their problem, up until the final solution for the south to secede the north, affected the society. Some people were not happy with the decision made and eventually that lead to discord. Basically what I am saying is that events such as this one has the effect to the either influence other nations in a good way or a bad way. We’re just going to have to wait and see.
1 comment:
I am really interested to see what plays out in Sudan becoming two separate countries, as well. New, happy countries don't happen over night and with a globalized market like the one we're plugged into, it will be interesting to see not only how divisions will be made between the two countries, but how they will plug into the rest of the world.
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