The countdown clock ran out, the flag ascended over the fledgling capital and a new nation born from Africa's longest civil war and the deaths of 2 million people joined the world Saturday.
The mood was euphoric in Juba as the Republic of South Sudan formally declared its independence from the north, its bitter antagonist for generations. For the day, at least, a people weary of conflict were willing to ignore that their nation came into being as one the world's most troubled states.
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Photos: Independence for South Sudan
The man sworn in as South Sudan's first president, Salva Kiir, stood alongside his old nemesis, northern President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes in the western region of Darfur. Bashir's presence was a powerful sign that he has acceded to the partition, however grudgingly.
It is not exactly true to say the country is starting from scratch, because it has been building the rudiments of a functioning government since the 2005 peace deal that made independence possible. But South Sudan faces daunting obstacles.
The country, roughly the size of France, has the highest incidence of maternal death in the world, one of the lowest rates of elementary school enrollment, and profound poverty, with more than 90% of the population surviving on less than a dollar a day and nearly 1 in 5 people chronically hungry, according to the United Nations; only about a third of the population has access to safe drinking water, and only a fourth are literate.
Questions also have been raised about the new country's leaders, most of them former rebel fighters united by a foe that, on peace declarations at least, no longer exists.
And devilish issues remain unresolved, such as the status of the oil-rich Abyei region claimed by both the mostly Muslim and Arab north and the Christian and animist south; insurgencies across the south that Juba officials claim are fomented by the north; and how to divide the abundant oil revenue – the south has the oil, and the north has the pipes to carry it to market.
With independence, the question of exactly what each side will demand, and will be prepared to risk, is expected to come into sharper focus.
"In a way, the poker game has just begun," said R. Barrie Walkley, the U.S. consul-general in Juba. The U.S., which helped broker the peace deal, gives South Sudan $300 million a year in development funds and $150 million in food aid, and is financing the building of the country's first paved highway, which will run from the capital to the border with Uganda and will cost $225 million.
How responsibly the Juba regime will spend donor money "is obviously a big concern," Walkley said, adding, "If you talk to the man on the street here, there is the perception that there is corruption at the highest levels."
Although the government has an anti-corruption commission, he added, it lacks prosecutorial powers.
U.S. investment here has been discouraged by sanctions against Khartoum, previously the capital of north and south, but the south broke free of them Saturday. USAID will hold a conference later this year to give potential American investors a sense of the business landscape.
"There are opportunities here," Walkley said, adding that the agricultural potential is enormous. "It should be the breadbasket of this part of Africa."
Nhial Bol, owner and editor of The Citizen, a 5,000-circulation daily newspaper with the motto "Fighting Corruption and Dictatorship Everyday," believes the leadership of South Sudan wasn't prepared for independence when voters overwhelmingly approved it in January. What used to unite the men now running the country was their battle against the north, he said, "but they don't have one vision for the nation."
Bol said he has been arrested and detained three times in the last four years – most recently last month – after criticizing officials for corruption and mismanagement.
"People like our leaders have not been challenged in their life," Bol said. Most were once rebel fighters in the bush, and rank brought absolute authority, he said.
In that environment, "you can just choose to claim somebody's life, and nobody can challenge you," Bol said. "Now, if you ask, 'What did you do with the money?' he won't like it."
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