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Republic of South Sudan National Symbols

FLAG

(Official flag of the Republic of South Sudan)

Black represents the black African people of South Sudan. White represents Sudan peace for which many lives have been lost. Red represents the blood of the gallant freedom and justice fighters who have been lost in the many years of conflict. Green represents agricultural potential exemplified by the fertile soil and rich equatorial vegetation adorning the South Sudan countryside. Blue represents the River Nile, which is the main source of life not only in South Sudan but also in (north) Sudan and all the way to Egypt. The Star – represents unity of the states of South Sudan. The flag, therefore, signifies one nation of black Africans united in the struggle to perpetuate peace and prosperity for all the people of South Sudan.

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The design consists of an African Fish Eagle standing against a shield and spears. The eagle is depicted as looking towards its left shoulder with wings outstretched and it holds in its claws a scroll bearing the name of the state.^[3] The eagle signifies strength, resilience and vision with the shield and spears representing protection of the new state.

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NATIONAL ANTHEM

Oh God!

We praise and glorify you

For your grace on South Sudan

Land of great abundance

Uphold us united in peace and harmony

Oh motherland!

We rise raising flag with the guiding star

And sing songs of freedom with joy

For justice, liberty and prosperity

Shall forevermore reign

Oh great patriots!

Let us stand up in silence and respect

Saluting our martyrs whose blood

Cemented our national foundation

We vow to protect our nation

Oh God, bless South Sudan!

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Audio recording of Republic of South Sudan national anthem:

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New updated map of the world

(press play and zoom in to East African region)

Below are a few maps from various sources, pilfered from the BBC and elsewhere that display information about Sudan’s physical geography, ethnic group distribution, infant mortality rates, access to water & sanitation facilities, education rates, food consumption percentages, location of oil production infrastructure, language diversity and religions practiced. They are recent additions to my Mapping Sudan page that I share with you here.

Satellite Image Map

(Source: NASA)

Ethnic Group Distribution

(Source: Dr. M. Isady, http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml)

Distribution of Religion

(Source: Dr. M. Isady, http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml)

Languages in Sudan

(Source: Dr. M. Isady, http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/maps.shtml)

Infant Mortality Rates

(Source: Sudan Household Health Survey, 2006)

Percentage Using ‘Improved’ Water & Sanitation

(Source: Sudan Household Health Survey, 2006)

Percentage of Children Who Completed Primary School

(Source: Sudan Household Health Survey, 2006)

Percentage Households with ‘Poor’ Food Consumption

(Source: Sudan Household Health Survey, 2006)

(source: Drilling Info International)

[Montréal, Québec, Canada -2°C] Before the last civil war started in Sudan in 1983, the country’s protected areas, according to the Wildlife Conservaton Society, “supported some of the most spectacular and important wildlife populations in Africa, and hosted the second largest wildlife migration in the world.” According to their website, “During an aerial survey, more than 1.3 million white-eared kob, tiang (African antelope), and mongalla gazelle are thriving in Southern Sudan.” And apparently, an estimated 8,000 elephants are located within the Jonglei region and particularly in Boma National Park.

To the surprise of researchers, wildlife remains plentiful in southern Sudan's Boma National Park, despite a long civil war, which ended in 2005. Here, a herd of elephants move through a grassland in the park. (Miguel Juarez for NPR)

This seems like such good news considering that all other information coming from Sudan is about war crimes in Darfur, tribal conflict, a fragile peace agreement and upcoming elections which may or may not be fair and free.

Sudan’s central and southern governments are over-dependent on oil for their respective revenues. Considering most of the developed oil fields straddle the as-yet-undemarkated border that situates the south, oil will play an important role in the country’s ability to hold on to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and avoid a third civil war.

Within the volatile political context that is Sudan, there has been little to no reporting on the country’s natural environment and the potential for wildlife reserves and national parks to become an important source of revenue for the South. Tanzania’s revenues from safari tourism is their second largest source of foreign currency after agricultural exports. And it is steadily growing.

The south is now seriously underdeveloped and lacking in general infrastructure and its primary foreing trade is done in oil, which is managed by the Central govenrment in Khartoum who shares the revenues with the government of Southern Sudan. The South has other exports like gum Africa to gain some foreign currency for its own development but it needs more revenue streams and with greater dieversity.

Of course it will take a while to develop the infrastructure for safari tourism but the southeastern region of Southern Sudan seems apt to offer an important future source of revenue that can rival oil exports.

Considering that wildlife tourism could be added to the important oil export to earn foreign capital, the region’s national parks and wildlife reserves could provide a genuine revenue stream for Southern Sudan’s economy that would diminish oil dependence.

Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

How will an oil economy adapt to an emerging wildlife conservation economy? Just how do the two share the land? I thought it would be interesting to visualize how the two might complement or conflict with one another. Wildlife conservation and resource exploitation do not make good bedfellows and are unable to share the territory.

The map to the left is an overlay of two maps: one of national parks and wildlife reserves taken from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the other is of oil concessions and exploited oil fields taken from the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan.

It would seem that the Zeraf Reserve and the proposed extension are located in Blocks A, 5A and 5B, three very active regions of oil exploration and exploitation, particularly Block 5A.

The Southern National Park seems to be outside any region of exploration. The Boma National Park as well as the proposed Bandingallo National Park are within Block B at the fringes of oil exploration but not at risk of exploitation and future exploitation.

How these two ‘resources’ will coexist has yet to be seen. Hopefully, the Southern Sudanese will recognize the long-term benefits of protecting the land and its wildlife for their own benefit and the benefit of wildlife enthusiasts rather than succumb to foreign lust for oil. If the so-called ‘international community’ is genuinely interested in helping Sudan hold on to its fragile peace and preventing a third civil war in the Sudan, it needs to begin washing the bloody oil of its hands and help build a local industry that brings money into the country rather than take resources out.

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Further reading:

- After Sudan’s Civil War: Where the Wild Things Are. NPR’s WBUR Radio.

- Fragile peace may unravel in Southern Sudan. CNN

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Below is a video from CNN that give us a first-time glimpse of oil well pollution in Southern Sudan.

Here is the transcript of the audio report with a few added photos:

Exactly three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Darfur. Like many people in Sudan, I was glued to the television set to view the announcement. It was 4 p.m.

An anonymous blogger who worked for an international aid agency in Darfur wrote on AlertNet, that one hour after the announcement was made, his agency received a phone call. “The Government had revoked our licence and we must close all our programmes. No further explanation. First thing the next day we were told all international staff had to leave Darfur by 4 p.m.” They had to be out of the area exactly 24 hours after the ICC announcement.

According the the UN’s Organization for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 13 International Agencies were expelled:
- Action contre la faim
- Solidarité
- Save the Children (UK & US)
- Medecins Sans Frontières (NL & FR)
- CARE International
- Oxfam (GB)
- Mercy Corps
- International Rescue Committee
- Norwegian Refugee Council
- CHF International
- PADCO
- And three Sudanese relief agencies were also closed.

The International Herald Tribune reported on March 21, that armed men looted Oxfam’s Darfur Warehouse, “stealing all of its contents.” While in Malual Kon, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal State where Mercy Corps has a compound, I learned that all of their equipment from their Darfur and Khartoum operations were seized since their expulsion: computers, communication radios, everything. Since their communication system was centred in Khartoum, they have had to reorganize their communication strategy for their activities in Southern Sudan.

Internews—which is an International NGO affiliated with Mercy Corps—coordinates Nhomlaau FM in Malual Kon. It has three other community radio stations in Southern Sudan. One of these is located in  Kurmuk, Blue Nile State, which is within the North/South transitional area. The radio station there was nearly closed along with Mercy Corps, but they managed to continue broadcasting by arguing their independence of the US-based NGO.

I’ve been travelling throughout Southern Sudan for the past four weeks and was recently in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal state, which shares its northern border with Southern Darfur. According to the IRIN News Network, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal is expecting an influx of Internally Displaced People (or IDPs) from Southern Darfur as conditions are expected to deteriorate as a result of the expulsion of the 16 NGOs. Although the report suggests that the UN and the Southern Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission are “are preparing for potential inflows of Darfuris,”  their arrival will certainly put a strain on the area’s already scarce infrastructure.

IDPs returning to Northern Bahr el_Ghazal in 2007 (courtesy IOM)

Since 2007, there has been a coordinated transport of hundreds of thousands of IDP returnees to Northern Bahr el-Ghazal from Southern Darfur and Khartoum. These people are returning to their homeland after being displaced during Sudan’s other civil war that ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. Many are returning to rural locations without access to sanitation, safe drinking water, clinics or schools.

According to the International Organization for Migration (or IOM), many villages in the area have had a rate of IDP Returnees as high as 80-90% of their pre-2007 population. 2007 is the year when organized returns of Internally displaced people began in earnest with the help of IOM and the government of Southern Sudan.

waterhole in War Faj, Northern Bahr el-Ghazal

Access to safe drinking water is already in short supply throughout the state for those already living there. The influx of Darfuris could cause serious tensions at existing water sources and could lead to localized conflict. Waterborne infectious diseases, like cholera and meningitis, could become a serious problem.

To make matters worse, the rainy season is approaching. By the end of April, road travel will be become difficult and delivery of goods will be seriously impaired. Rain is a serious matter in Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and neighbouring states. During the 2008 rainy season the state experienced serious flooding. During my time in the area, I’ve driven past remnants of nearly half a dozen temporary camps where thousands were displaced to during last year’s flooding.

Flood Map of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal and Warrap States (courtesy UNJLC, Juba)

A  March 1, 2009 report from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, writes, “The potential movement of 1.5 million displaced Darfur residents into Southern Sudan’s Northern and Western Bahr el-Ghazal states, due to disruptions in humanitarian assistance, presents a severe threat to food security in the two states.”

During a visit to Darfur four days after the ICC arrest warrant was issued President Al-Bashir said that his decision to expel the 16 NGOs from Darfur was “irreversible.” The position of the Khartoum government has not changed since, although they have vowed to replace the international NGOs with Sudanese agencies and end the need for aid in Darfur within the year. No clear solution is in sight.

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An interesting article about Fallout Scenarios as a result of the expulsion of 16 NGOs from Darfur can be found here.

Since the bombardment of the Gaza Strip began on December 27, 2008, there are certainly fewer refugees than before the attacks, considering the escalating death tole, which according to the BBC is now higher than 600 deaths. The BBC’s Gaza Conflict Map, shows that the Shati, Jabaliya (including its UN school) and Rafah refugee camps have been directly bombed. This map follows the conflict, offering two separate views: one of the latest attacks and another of the accumulated attacks since the Israeli offensive began.

A friend sent me this link to a blog about making a push to get up to date maps of Gaza in OpenStreetMap. It could be an interesting place to document in detail the bombardment of the Gaza Strip. This wiki-type mapping can rival BBC’s Conflict Map if Gazan’s mapped out their own relationship with the present war. If only they had electricity, among other essentials like sufficient food, water, fuel and medicine.

How is it possible that the military of one country can attack United Nations refugee camps without the condemnation by the United Nations Security Council? According to a Jan 5 article in the Jerusalem Post, the United States chose to veto a statement proposed by Libya calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza because they considered it “unbalanced.”

What makes UNRWA refugee camps different from other refugee camps elsewhere in the world? First, the UNRWA is the United Nations’ first organization of its kind and was created by UN General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

Originally established  as a temporary organization, UNRWA has been forced to adapt its programs to meet the changing needs of the Palestinian refugees. Today, UNRWA is the main provider of education, health, relief and social services to more than 4.6 million registered Palestine refugees throughout the Middle East living within camp in Lebanon (12 camps), Syria (9 camps), The West Bank (19 camps) and Jordan (10 camps), and living outside of camps. The United Nations General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2011.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on December 14, 1950. UNHCR’s mandate uses the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention as its major tool to ensure the basic human rights of vulnerable persons and that refugees will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they face persecution. The organization also helps civilians repatriate to their homeland, integrate in countries of asylum or resettle in third countries.

One of the problems for Palestinian refugees is that when the UNHCR was established, UNRWA’s mandate was not integrated and assimilated into UNHCR’s mandate so they do not benefit from the same protection and rights stipulated by the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.

In Canada, UNRWA-registered Palestinians who seek refugee status are not considered refugees as they would be if they were registered by the UNHCR. Many Palestinian refugees deported back to refugee camps (sometimes via the United States through the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement).

An earlier post from June 2008 includes a short documentary about the situation of Palestinian refugees facing deportation from Canada that was produced in 2003 by following the campaign by the Montréal-based Coalition Against the Deportation of Palestinian Refugees. It includes images of the flattening of a portion of the Jenin Refugee Camp by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in 2002.

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An interesting article in the TimesOnline, We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas, is well worth the read as a counter point to the regular image we get of Hamas in Canadian media. The article is written by William Sieghart. And an Op-Ed piece written by Rashid Khalidi in the Jan. 7 edition of The New York Times is titled, What you don’t know about Gaza, some of which I already knew, some I didn’t.

Al Jazeera has recently put on its website a Creative Commons repository of broadcast quality video footage from inside the Gaza Strip, called the War on Gaza. The videos have no subtitles so during interviews are in arabic only, however the videos are well annotated with a short description of every image sequence.

Below, I’ll continually add maps I find that will give me that I-know-this-place feeling once I get myself to Sudan and help me better understand the situation there: its history, the migration of refugees & internally displaced persons (IDPs), its physical landscape and topography, its transport network, its development strategies, etc.

To view a much more comprehensive and growing list of maps click on Maps Tab above

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SELECTED MAPS (Click to download or view better quality image.)

GENERAL:

January 1, 1956 Line of Demarcation Map

(source: Map No. 3707 Rev. 10, UNITED NATIONS, Department of Peacekeeping Operations Cartographic Section, April 2007; demarcation line source is US Department of State)

South Sudan Challenges Map

(source: Reuters, 2011)

Satelite Image Map

(Source: NASA)

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MIGRATION MAPS:

Spontaneous Returns from Place of Displacement and Final Destination of Returnees (tracked on-route)

(source: International Organization for Migration IOM, 2008)

IOM Internally Displaced Persons Return Routes – by road, river and air 2007-2008

(source: International Organization for Migration, 28 January 2008)

IDP Registration, Returns and Refugee Repatriation supported by IOMIDP Registration, Returns and Refugee Repatriation supported by IOM

(source: IOM GIS Unit, Data Source: IOM IDP Registration Databases, Movement statistics & IOM supported repatriation statistics; 18/09/2007)

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(source: European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

European Coalition on Oil in Sudan and National Park & Wildlife Reserve (overlay)

Sudan Oil / Wildlife Overlay (source: Wildlife Conservation Society and European Coalition on Oil in Sudan, 2007)

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POLITICAL BOUNDARY MAPS:

Comparative Map of the Abyei Area

Arbitration Award Map (source: Permanent Court of Arbitration, July 22, 2009)