This feature was shot in January 2011. A full edit of 121 images available on request. The following text is available with the images.


The Sudanese people could be witnessing history unfold as the South looks to separate itself from its Northern neighbours following a milestone referendum. No stranger to conflict and civil war, the East African country, Africa’s largest single country, may well split in half, as southerners hold a referendum to secede from the North, where the capital Khartoum is located. The North, which is often neglectful and at other times aggressive to the South, with civil wars breaking out between the two in the past, has not appeared to stand in the South’s way in their bid for independence.

A culmination of almost six years of peace negotiations and agreements, the January 9th referendum will, once the results are published, determine the future of the southern region. Because Sudan is the largest country in the continent, and the largest in the Arab world (as the North comprises mostly of Sudanese Arabs), the secession presents a host of impracticalities and adversities. If the referendum results in a vote to secede, a highly likely and largely expected outcome, the two sides will have to work together in order to settle issues such as the heavily disputed oil region of Abyei, new formation of a government, and the construction of a new constitution, separate to that currently established throughout the country and enforced from the northern capital, Khartoum. Moreover, national debts and assets must be fairly allocated between the two. This would present the cowboy hat donning President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, with lengthy peace-seeking negotiations, in order to reach an agreement.

Moreover, if the mainly Christian South does detach itself from the North, it will be amongst the poorest countries in the world. Its landlocked geographic position is one which will present severe obstructions for its import and export industry. The meagre infrastructure will need heavy subsidisation from the newly formed government in the Southern capital of Juba. Plus of course, with every new country, there comes new borders which will have to be arduously finalised and agreed to. With regard to resources, oil makes up most of Sudan’s revenue, and because Abyei is on the proposed North-South border, the two regions will have to work together to come to some sort of agreement. This will no doubt prove difficult as the country has been victim to decades of civil war between the two regions.

However, with the backing of Western countries such as the UK as well as UN advice, the North is encouraged to oblige the South in its wishes to secede; something of a priority if the landlocked South wishes to use the North as an export route. It is poignant to note Britain’s active involvement in these developments. In 1956 it was Britain’s decision to attach Southern Sudan to its ethnically-differing Northern counterpart, which some could argue caused the conflict in the first place. It may seem to some that the backing of Britain is a means to try to undo its initial misjudgement. The US promised to take Sudan off the list of terrorism sponsors, and to lower its national debt if the North promised to co-operate with peace negotiations.

Then there is Darfur, synonymous with political strife and conflict, which shares a border with Southern Sudan. Fighting in Darfur, which has leaked into areas of Southern Sudan, has caused profound tragedy and population displacement since 2003, and in some ways it seems that there may be no end in sight for conflict in the region.

The referendum has been thankfully peaceful thus far. Although tens of thousands of peacekeepers and activists have travelled to the South, some fear that they would prove no obstacle if violence were to break out. Causes for conflict are many; some obvious, such as the North’s understandable opposition to secession, and some less so. The less obvious causes are encased within tribal politics, and the agendas of displaced Sudanese, and also the fact that those living in the Abyei oil region have been barred from voting in the referendum as the region remains contested. Furthermore, in the first week of 2011, the worst outbreak of sand fly disease in eight years hit the people of Southern Sudan, putting mounting pressure on the already weak healthcare system. South Sudan has one of the highest mortality rates amongst mothers in the world. Around 2000 mothers die for every 100,000 births, meaning that healthcare is an infrastructure which is desperately in need of serious aid.

Although it is established that Southern Sudan could face being amongst the poorest countries in the continent, the capital Juba has seen remarkable progress economically. In the last decade, especially since 2005 when 40 years of civil war finally ended thanks to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, citizens have moved from their tents into houses, diplomats and officials have discarded their uniforms for expensive suits, while they frequent the variety of new restaurants and bars which have flourished in post-civil war Juba. This is not to say that Juba is an established city, the infrastructure is still lacking with roads largely unpaved, hospitals immensely understaffed and underfinanced, and students at the schools and universities study from textbooks older than their parents. However, there are promising signs.

Malakal has become the new home for thousands of South Sudanese who journeyed from the North back home in order to vote and to settle back in their native South. Shanty-esque habitations have popped up in Malakal to house all of these returning southerners. Many sleep under tarpaulins and inhabit local stadiums while trying to rebuild their lives, yet in some ways, their circumstances seem to suggest that this could take some time.

The Referendum required at least 60% of registered voters to vote for it to be validated. The turnout in Southern Sudan was 97%. Turnout in major cities in the US amongst Sudanese émigrés was also 97%, with a 99% turnout amongst Sudanese in Ethiopia, and 53% turnout in Northern Sudan. These figures are strong to suggest that what we could be seeing is the world’s newest country, however names for the new region have still not been decided. Some support the idea of calling it Leech, after the emblematic tree which grows in the region. Others like the idea of calling it the Upper Nile State, and some more straightforward contributors just prefer ‘Southern Sudan.’ With turnouts like this, it seems as though these people may have to be hasty to find a name for their newly created state.

In Malakal and Wau, there are two teaching hospitals in order to train and inform the South Sudanese medically. It is a distressing thought to realise that 80% of Sudanese Health services are provided by NGOs, but a meagre 30% of Sudanese can get access to this healthcare. Only a tiny, negligible proportion of those working in the public sector have graduate degrees. The hospitals could provide aid for those wishing to become part of the healthcare service in Sudan, as well as help to improve the figures representing those able to access this healthcare.

So, one looks to the results of the referendum. If the result shows that the people of South Sudan have elected to secede, a highly likely outcome, it provides both North and South with a platform for negotiation and progress, as well as a hopeful look to end the conflict between the two, finally and completely. This is, of course, dependent wholly on both regions’ willingness to co-operate and to seek the greater good for the Sudanese people.