Bad news for our friend Graham Hughes, who’s still completing his overland trek to every country in the world. One more for the list, buddy! South Sudan confirmed its independence and became the newest country on earth officially at midnight local time on the 9th of July. Tomorrow, the 13th of July, the United Nations will meet to discuss the new country’s status, and is widely expected to admit a new member state shortly afterwards, bringing total UN member nations to 193.

New capital Juba and the rest of the country celebrated by polishing up the city and hanging the national flag from the street lights, with new citizens walking the streets baring the proud t-shirt slogan ‘keep Juba green and clean’. For the celebration of independence, numerous countries sent dignitaries to represent them, including a group from the Vatican and UN secretary Ban Ki Moon. Citizens of the new country hope that their enthusiasm will lead to an economic push, and that the new government will be able to put war behind it and push forward with the improved provision of the country’s strongly lacking basic services. The road forward after freedom is certainly not expected to be an easy one: South Sudan is in a poor economic state, but has set optimistic early targets of quadrupling agricultural output and constructing a university for each of the new countries states – eight in all.

Optimism and positive thinking might be going a bit too far in some cases, but at least the country seems to be going for positive developments; a vast improvement on many years of war prior to January’s referendum. Capital Juba is currently one of the fastest growing cities in the world, fuelled by Chines development and substantial oil money, and suffers an extremely hot and dry climate, with the temperature topping 30 degrees every single month of the year. Locals use the Nile as a major trading hub, with the city a lively economic port along the river. The recent wars, however, have left the city in a depressing state of disrepair, something that’s expected to take some serious time to develop.

Still, with the UN seemingly onside and the area not at war or at risk of war in the immediate future – having undergone more than 40 years of regular fighting in the past 56 years – this can only be a positive development. Unless, of course, your name is Graham Hughes. Overland back to Sudan from Oceania, Graham? Good luck with that! The rest of us, if we have that feeling, are best off dropping in during the drier season, between November and April, and can – for the time being – still get visas from the same sources as an old Sudanese visa. Graham will just get there when he gets there!

Similar Posts:

• Ten Facts You Might Not Have Known About… South Sudan.
• Thomson Reuter’s Poll Reveals The Five Worst Countries In The World For Women.
• ‘Mixed Signals’: The Thumbs Up.
• Lubumbashi in the Congo
• ITB Asia 2011 Announces Japan As Partner Country