Bloomberg

By Jared Ferrie – Jul 5

When Acual Bak left Sudan for newly independent South Sudan in December, she expected the government to provide basic services and allocate her family a plot of land to start a new life.

Almost seven months on, Bak is living in grass hut with a roof made from green tarpaulin at a temporary camp for returnees outside of Aweil, the capital of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state. She’s one of about 375,000 southerners who the International Organization for Migration says have made the trip from Sudan since October 2010.

The fate of the returnees is one of a series of challenges that have damped the celebratory mood as the world’s newest nation prepares to mark its first year of independence on July 9. Since secession, South Sudan has had to cope with armed conflict with Sudan, an economic crisis sparked by the government’s decision to halt oil production, corruption and ethnic violence. Like most residents, Bak, 26, is waiting for the material benefits of her country’s freedom…

FULL STORY:

South Sudanese Still Waiting for Benefits of Independence