Focus on Sudan: What does independence mean for North and South?

Salva Kir is to lead South Sudan into independence on the 9 July after a landslide referendum earlier this year where 99% of the South voted to secede from the North. But with relations still tense over disputed border regions of Abyei and the surrounding area, what does the future hold for North and South alike?

With Northern Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir wanted by the ICC for war crimes and the vast majorities of NGO’s being based in the south, will the North even recognize its legitimacy? Will this be the real start of peace, or will it merely be the start of another land grab explosion by the North?

Analysts fear that the South will become a failed state before it has even had a chance at success. With little to no public services and foreign aid being the main source of food, the South stands in a precarious position and faces an up hill struggle.

Join us at the Frontline club with a panel of experts to discuss what the future holds for North and South Sudan – will this be the start of peaceful beginnings and economic prosperity for both? Or will fraught relations win out again?

Chaired by Richard Dowden, director of the Royal African Society. He was Africa editor of The Independent from 1986 to 1994 before being appointed Diplomatic Editor, and then joining The Economist as their Africa Editor. Author of Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles.

With:

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4 News’ International Editor.

Dr Ahmed Al-Shahi, Research Fellow and Co-founder of the Sudan Programme at St Antony’s College, Oxford University.

Natznet Tesfay, head of Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis Ltd. Prior to joining Exclusive Analysis she worked in the field of urban development, consulting for municipal governments in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. 

Mohamed Abdalla Ali Eltom, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan in London.

 

Picture credit: fieldreports