Although I am very happy for South Sudan to finally gain their independence from the condescending haters in the North, I am truly sad to see that we’ve lost such a vibrant part of ‘our’ Sudanese culture. Perhaps out of watching all the crazy politics lately, the most thing that stuck with me is the Prayer of Saint Francis read yesterday during the secession announcement. Perhaps it is because I have been in never ending zen state for the past few months, but it just seems that all the political news were noise, and the minute I heard this, I can finally hear humanity speak, not politics…and I sure like that. Let’s hope this prayer will continue to be the spirit of the world’s newest country: South Sudan.
- Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
- Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
- Where there is injury, pardon.
- Where there is doubt, faith.
- Where there is despair, hope.
- Where there is darkness, light.
- Where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love.
- For it is in giving that we receive.
- It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen.
The Sudanese Optimist 
I absolutely agree to what you are saying and believe that we should all remember that the Southern Sudanese citizens didn’t just decide to secede out of thin air. There must have been a problem and he was Omar-al-Bashir. This is exactly the direction we should point our fingers of blame. He didn’t satisfy their needs and certainly didn’t discourage racism towards them.
Some say that when they secede, they will be left as sitting ducks for the major foreign powers to exploit because of their extremely large oil reserves. Israel has already built settlements in the South. Unfortunately, this all seems too good to be true.
“There must have been a problem and he was Omar-al-Bashir.”
I don’t think it was about Bashir. The two halves of the former Sudan were simply completely different countries which had been forced together by an accident of history.
The split is as natural as that of the Czechs and Slovaks, or the various parts of Yugoslavia.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement CPA that ended the war set up the semi-autonomous region of South Sudan to be ruled by the SPLM as well as a government of national unity in Khartoum led by President Omar al-Bashir to include the SPLM. Workers are putting the finishing touches to a new presidential compound that occupies an entire block in the middle of town.