South Sudan one week away from independence

The U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan Princeton Lyman this week expressed confidence that the breaking up of the North and South will take place peacefully but warned of many serious challenges ahead.

"Both sides really feel that a return to general war would be disastrous for both of them," he said at a news conference.

South Sudan will officially become independent on July 9th, after choosing secession last January’s referendum. Lyman said issues such as oil sharing and citizenship need to be resolved quickly.

Meanwhile, the Bishop of the Diocese of Rumbek, Caesar Mazzolari, has called on the citizens of the new nation of South Sudan to be servants of peace, justice and the common good.
“Serving and being a servant are responsibilities we must seriously undertake if we want to give birth to a new nation,” the Archbishop said during a homily at a recent ordination.
“A new nation is not born in the offices of the State House, or the offices of the international community,” he emphasized. “No! South Sudan will be born from the womb and the hearts of individual Southern Sudanese who are willing to be servants of peace, justice, and the common good.”
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