South Sudan Begins Countdown To Independence (PHOTOS)

JUBA, Sudan (AP)--When Southern Sudan becomes the world's newest country on Saturday, its people will rejoice in the streets as it enters statehood as one of the poorest and least developed places on earth.

But advocates and diplomats warned Friday that when the celebrations subside and the dignitaries leave, unresolved problems between the south and the northern government, could spark renewed conflict along their new international border.

The internationally-brokered 2005 peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south war expires Saturday.

South Sudan becomes its own nation at midnight. The U.N. recognizes 192 countries; South Sudan will be 193.

Sudan, the country South Sudan is breaking away from, will recognize the new country as soon as Friday turns to Saturday.

Take a look at some facts on how Southern Sudan will transition to being the world's newest country, courtesy of Reuters:

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The Peace Deal

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North and south Sudan fought each other for all but a few years from 1955 to 2005 in a civil war fuelled by ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil. The violence claimed an estimated 2 million lives, forced 4 million to flee and destabilized much of the region.

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North and south Sudan fought each other for all but a few years from 1955 to 2005 in a civil war fuelled by ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil. The violence claimed an estimated 2 million lives, forced 4 million to flee and destabilized much of the region.

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South Sudan Fact

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Comments

[Iain Banks]

08:45 AM on 07/13/2011

A ton of natural resources, not just oil. South Sudan can quickly begin building their cities on their natural resources alone. I'm happy for them and wish them the best.

Being an American however means I'm a natural pessimist with a great disdain for human nature. Something tells me the leaders will begin buying themselves private planes before the first universities are built.

[Ramkshrestha]

08:08 AM on 07/11/2011

Oh, one more country? Wish peaceful and prosperous future of the country.

[Assumed Name]

11:00 PM on 07/10/2011

Congratulations, South Sudan, and best wishes for a more peaceful and properous future!!

[Johnny Fruckles]

10:26 PM on 07/10/2011

okay, let's say you're a new nation and you're lookin' for a little free publicity...how about running over to somalia and lending those poor people a hand?

[RobertFromMN]

07:42 AM on 07/11/2011

South Sudan has more than its share of problems, having been neglected by Khartoum for so long and considering the tribal rivalries that exist. I wish them well, but they have a hell of a row to hoe.

[lqw]

06:40 PM on 07/10/2011

The best to you South Sudan .

[scipio2009]

05:25 PM on 07/10/2011

Good luck, Southern Sudan.

[VoteLibertarian]

10:05 AM on 07/10/2011

my money is on the South Sudanese bobsled team in the next winter games

[Pauline Jaing]

12:20 PM on 07/10/2011

"my money is on the South Sudanese bobsled team in the next winter games "

Indeed, I've noticed that too -- join the USA block and you have an automatic finish in the top 5 at the Olympics. It stinks that they even ruin sports, we are not even allowed to simply enjoy the fineness of any sport, its ALL about who THEY choose to ram down our throats, and increasingly, their choices are third rate and every kid in the sport knows it.

[Assumed Name]

10:59 PM on 07/10/2011

:)

[weedfin]

09:06 AM on 07/10/2011

So how much will this cost the US taxpayers.

[philhellene]

11:05 AM on 07/10/2011

No worries. When the U.S. completes its descent into third-world status (a la right-wing economic policies), who would ever think of asking for its help?

[weedfin]

03:31 PM on 07/10/2011

Yeah, we will be the nipple for the whole world so they can turn around and piss on us. How about another country helping out, better yet, how about Saudia Arabia helping out.

Yeah, just as I thought, where's the outrage?

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

08:49 AM on 07/10/2011

South Sudan now joins South Carolina and South Dakota as places I wouldn't want to live.

[VoteLibertarian]

10:06 AM on 07/10/2011

Charleston is beautiful, hilton head awesome...you are missing out...South Dakota, people are nice...bout it

[bealebkk]

07:02 AM on 07/10/2011

Is this what we now euphemistically call ‘Planed Parenthood’?
The money will roll in...

[CarlyHope]

06:27 PM on 07/10/2011

What on EARTH are you talking about?

[bealebkk]

09:06 PM on 07/10/2011

A child of five would understand this. Send someone to fetch a child of five.
...Groucho Marx

[blackhawk78]

02:38 AM on 07/10/2011

While the larger Hindu India has found a modicum of political stability, has enjoyed decades of economic success, and exports its vibrant culture via its booming film industry worldwide, its Muslim counterpart Pakistan flirts with failed-nation status.

Pakistan is in fact a nightmare of state-sponsored jihadist terrorism inside and outside of its borders. Except for a tiny elite, the country only offers unimaginable squalor and poverty for its people. It has featured a string of unbelievably incompetent and corrupt governments that have exported Islamic terrorism to distant continents, as far as the UK and the USA. Pakistan harbors the world's top terrorists who are allowed to live inside its borders with impunity, free to continue conspiring and plotting mass murder.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

08:48 AM on 07/10/2011

Partitioning Palestine didn't work out as planned either.

Fact is, fresh boundaries and segregated nationalism do not define peace.

[maxben]

09:59 AM on 07/10/2011

Of course not, but not-partitioning has never helped either.
And in this case, they were given a vote by Sudan.

[Pauline Jaing]

12:24 PM on 07/10/2011

We've bee involved in Pakistan and that is why it is a mess, we USE other peoples and states foru our own intrests and it is BACKFIRING on us time and again. WE set up the madrassas to fuel our intended invasion of the Soviet Union -- we taught religious fanaticism, starting under Carter, and nw we are paying the price.

Then you turn around and claim that being a Muslim country is the cause!

[blackhawk78]

02:36 AM on 07/10/2011

South Sudan's secession from Sudan is in many way a mirror image of another 'secession' that took place over 60 years ago. In the waning days of the British Empire, British India was to be divided into two countries, a Muslim one and a Hindu one, and India was to be cleaved forever into those two parts. The pain and agony of the partitioning process aside (hundreds of thousands are estimated to have died in the resulting forced migrations, associated pogroms, and resettlement), how should history judge the British decision to partition India?

[maxben]

10:00 AM on 07/10/2011

The South Sudanese voted for this in a fair election given to them by the central government.
It might turn out badly but that's how such things MUST happen, not by colonial decision.

[Joffan]

10:12 AM on 07/10/2011

Hopefully no-one will judge it by your re-write of history. The British wanted to keep India as one country, but acceded to the demands of the new leaders. The migrations were not forced, and indeed were not expected on the scale they occurred.

[Robbert Hoekstra]

11:14 PM on 07/09/2011

America, brace yourself. Another excuse for the Obama's agenda to bring in more Muslim refugees into the country and bring the country under control of Islam.

[AFAN]

12:33 AM on 07/10/2011

Hey at this point Muslims don't need come over to America since most of you Anglo's manage to mess it up.

[CarlyHope]

06:29 PM on 07/10/2011

How'd you come up with that point, considering that Southern Sudan is mostly Christian and animist?

[Robbert Hoekstra]

08:26 PM on 08/02/2011

Sorry, no Anglo, man. No Afro, Euro, Spanish, Cuban, Puerto Rican, Chicano, Hispanic, Mexican or Asian either. Just a plain US citizen. And, by the way, every day hundreds of Muslims are entering the United States. Legally or illegally. You wonder, wonder why? After losing six wars against the Israelis, they finally realized that, in order to take over Israel ... you have to take over the United States of America, eh. Doesn't that make sense, or not? Now, don't go telling everybody about this secret, OK.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

08:47 AM on 07/10/2011

Oh please.
Wouldn't lowering taxes further on the rich stave that off? (/snark)

[Robbert Hoekstra]

06:17 PM on 08/03/2011

The rich have been around since Biblical times. Then wealth was measured by the number off cattle, slaves and wives the person had. In time they became kings and chiefs and land barons. Still their wealth was measured in land, cattle, slaves and wives. The industrial revolution brought great wealth to those who had the mills and factories. But there were still those who had to do the dirty work. Why did so many people come to the United States from Europe and Asia? Believe it or not, everybody wanted to work and become rich. Today this right is slowly but surely being taken away from us. We have come full circle. People becoming dependent on other people, on Government dole outs. The poor and the sick we will always have with us. Without jobs, we lose our pride and dignity.

[Mistinguette Grandison]

10:52 PM on 07/09/2011

Congratulations, South Sudan

[concretetundra]

03:13 AM on 07/10/2011

Agreed. Congrats to South Sudan. This is a great turn of events and best of luck to them. In fact, I'll go a step further and say that South Sudan is one of my favorite countries in the world.

[GEM-592]

08:00 PM on 07/09/2011

How long till we start bombin?