Post date: Jul 09, 2012 4:24:6 PM
JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN (JULY 9, 2012)(REUTERS) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir vowed on Monday (July 9) to confront the corruption plaguing his country a year after it declared independence, and said the new nation's economy still had to be "liberated" from its dependence on foreign powers.
South Sudan celebrates its first anniversary since seceding from Sudan a year ago.
Wearing his signature black fedora, Kiir addressed an assembly of dignitaries and a cheering crowd to mark the nation's first independence day after splitting from Sudan under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war.
In his speech, Kiir sought to portray the country's economy as part of the country's broader "liberation" struggle.
"We have fought for our right to be counted among the community of free nations and we have earnt it. But to the extent that we still depend on others, our liberty today is incomplete. We must be more than liberated. We have to be independent economically," he said.
Many South Sudanese hoped the country's emergence as the world's newest nation would begin an era of prosperity, but the country has remained mired in disputes with its northern neighbour over oil, the border and a many other issues.
The landlocked South shut off its oil production in January, instantly erasing 98 percent of state revenues, as part of a dispute with Sudan over how much it should pay to export crude using pipelines and other infrastructure in the north.
"We have been challenged by conflict from outside and conflict from within, including the loss of revenue that we mostly depend on. Externally, our challenges have been with the Republic of Sudan," Kiir told the crowd.
While many South Sudanese are still basking in the pride of their hard-won political freedom, they are starting to ask when they will enjoy the material benefits of independence.
Prices have been soaring, forcing many people to tighten their belts while corruption has gone largely unchecked.
South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to secede in a referendum last year that was promised in a peace deal that ended more than two decades of war over ideology, religion, ethnicity and oil. Some two million people died in the conflict.
But independence has failed to end violence both inside the country and on the border with Sudan.
"Since our independence, Khartoum has continuously violated our sovereignty through aerial bombardments and ground incursions which have affected all five of our states along the border. If I wanted to count all these things it would take our time," the South Sudanese president said.
Amid pomp and flag-waving, the former guerrillas of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement took full control of the country on July 9, 2011.
They also took about three-quarters of Sudan's oil output, bringing in billions of dollars that many citizens hoped would be channelled to develop a nation where just over a quarter of adults can read and life expectancy is under 50.
Instead, officials are now scrambling to find enough money to keep basic services running.
Kiir said one solution was to reduce the size of the government.
"The size of our government today, and the payroll, is very large compared to other countries. In these times of austerity, we cannot afford it and therefore we will downsize the government so that money is reserved for development," he said.
Corruption and mismanagement have not helped. In June, Kiir sent a letter to current and former officials asking them to return four billion USD of "stolen" government money. On Monday, Kiir vowed to end such abuses.
He aid the government was also working on developing alternatives to oil revenues, including tax collection and "alternative oil infrastructure".
South Sudan had started work on a small refinery in its Upper Nile state, he said.