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| South Sudanese children rejoice infornt of a church to mark their independence |
JUBA: South Sudan (Christian Majority) Celebrates its day of independence from the North Sudan (Muslim Majority) after a decades-long war that left the region in ruins and claimed millions of lives.
Fireworks lit the sky when the clock struck midnight (2100 GMT Friday) and packed cars drove around the capital Juba with drivers honking and passengers waving their new flag from the windows.
The noise from the large crowd gathered around the countdown clock, at the main crossroads in the new country’s capital Juba, was deafening, an AFP reporter said.
Standing next to the flashing clock, which read “free at last,” 27-year-old university student Andrew Nuer could barely describe how he felt as cars hooted around him and people danced in the street.
Hours earlier, world leaders including UN chief Ban Ki-moon had flown into Juba for Saturday’s official celebrations.
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One sign on the back of a car full of flag waving southerners read: “Just divorced.” South Sudan’s independence comes exactly six months after a referendum that saw southerners vote almost unanimously to split with their former civil war enemies in the north.
For decades, until a peace agreement was signed in 2005, southern rebels fought two wars with successive Khartoum governments for greater autonomy and recognition.
