South Sudan

Life has always been hard for most of the Sudanese population. Colonization, followed by many conflicts and two civil wars, that killed more than two million people, with hundreds of thousands being displaced. But today is a day of joy and celebration, because South Sudan became officially independent on Saturday July 9 2011.

Though this is a happy and unique time for the South Sudanese population, it is also a time of hard work, because now they need to build a country from scratch. The government still has to solve issues including borders, oil fields, and citizenship.

The country also needs to become investor friendly, because as of now according to the "Ease of Business Doing" the country is ranked on 159 out of 183 countries (http://www.doingbusiness.org/reports/subnational-reports/juba). Relative to local incomes, Juba is the second most expensive city on the world to start a business, after Congo's Kinshasa. Infrastructure is also an issue since roads are not paved.  And 85% of the population is illiterate, what only makes things harder.

Good news is that South Sudan also has abundant fertile farm lands that are well watered, having the capacity of becoming one of Africa's top food producers. The country also has many natural resources such as oil, gold, iron ore, among others.

Let’s hope that this is the time that the Sudanese people will finally live in peace and prosperity.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/10/south-sudan-celebrates-independence