JUBA, Sudan
The mud-hut town of Juba has earned a promotion to world capital, a title it will gain later this year. Only southern Sudan needs far more than its own currency and a national anthem: Most of the roads here are dirt, and even aid workers live in shipping containers.
In a little more than five months, southern Sudan is slated to become the world’s newest country. Final results from last month’s independence referendum, announced Monday, show that 98.8 percent of the ballots cast were for secession from Sudan’s north.
Juba is rich in oil but lacks the embassies and skyscrapers of other world capitals. A year ago, there was just a mile or two of pavement here, and the local archives are stored in a tent. Many, though, see great potential and are looking forward excitedly to controlling their own destiny.
Entrepreneur Soloman Chaplain Lui, 42, is overseeing the construction of 160 apartments and hotel rooms on a rocky bluff overlooking Juba. The country’s largest swimming pool sits here, though its water is murky. He points toward empty fields where he hopes one day to build a mall and a golf course.
“As I talk to you now, there are many people flowing here,” he said. “A new country is being born.”
Two decades of war between the predominantly Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south killed at least 2 million people before a 2005 peace agreement was reached. Residents are jubilant to have their own country at last, though much work remains.
Decades of war and poverty have kept southern Sudan in a decrepit state, and its 8.7 million people live in one of the least developed regions in the world. The United Nations says a 15-year-old girl here has a higher chance of dying in childbirth than finishing school. An estimated 85 percent of the population is illiterate.
Adding to the challenges, the prices of some everyday goods, including sugar, soap and cooking oil, have increased by more than 50 percent in recent weeks.
“The list is long,” said Athai Peter, 25, as he stood at a job-advertisement board outside a U.N. agency on Monday. “The roads are so poor in many places that we have very high food prices.”
A new currency must be established. Diplomatic missions need to be opened. And a country name must be chosen.
Critical negotiations still must be held with the north to decide on citizenship rights, oil rights and even the final border demarcation.
The U.S. national intelligence director warned last year of a possible new mass killing or genocide in Sudan over the referendum. That no longer looks likely. Sudanese President Omar Bashir on Monday backed the final results and said he wants to be the first to congratulate the southerners on their new state.
Gen. Bashir’s remarks seemed designed to help ensure a continuous flow of southern oil through the pipelines in the north. About 98 percent of southern Sudan’s budget comes from oil revenue.
No one is quite sure how many residents Juba has. After the 2005 peace accord, people began flooding into the town. Ad hoc settlements sprang up around the city, then expanded as the city ballooned. The settlements have no roads, electricity or sewage service.
Jemma Nunu Kumba, southern Sudan’s minister of housing and physical planning, concedes that the government is playing catch-up. But she notes that foreign investors are knocking on the government’s door, hoping to get in on a building boom.
“It is a big challenge that the government has to face. The priorities are competing with the resources we have. But of course it’s not something to neglect, so we will have to knock at the doors of the international community, of our developed partners, to help us.”
Juba has been attracting international investors for years. In 2007, a group of businesspeople from England, South Africa and Kenya spent $1.5 million to renovate a family home into a 16-room hotel known as the Logali House, where the walk-in rate is $275 a night.
Most Sudanese are unemployed or live hand to mouth on small sales of tea and other goods.
Small Sudanese-run business growth is hard to achieve, said Melody Atil, founder and managing director of Peace Dividend, an organization that lends money at affordable rates in Sudan. Banks rarely give loans, and she estimates that just 10 percent of the region’s work force is employed.
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