Recognizing realities

Yesterday, South Sudan became the 193rd member of the United Nations. Where will the 194th be? One candidate must be Somaliland. It is surely absurd and iniquitous that the only area of the former Somalia that has a stable and reasonably free government is also the only part which does not have international recognition.

Another country where a sensible, internationally-brokered settlement could reasonably lead to independence is Nagorno-Karabakh. Having survived invasion and attempted ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan in the early 1990s, this Armenian inhabited region has, like Somaliland, been effectively self-governing since the mid 1990s. But as long as Nagorno-Karabakh’s status remains in limbo, extremist elements in Azerbaijan – which has indulged in recent years in a massive arms spending spree – may be encouraged to believe that a military ‘solution’ is possible.

We should also recognize the plight of the many peoples around the world who are fighting for liberty behind closed borders. In Sudan, now that South Sudan has left, the regime has made clear, in deeds as well as words, that its goal is the imposition of an Arab/Islamic hegemony. They have already made a start with the bombing and attempted ethnic cleansing of the black African Nuba people of South Kordofan.

The situation in Sudan is paralleled in Burma, where the junta has waged a brutal war against non-Burmese ethnic groups – much like that Khartoum waged against South Sudan – for over fifty years.

Injustices on the scale of Burma and Sudan must be resisted wherever they occur. Whether as citizens of an independent country or autonomous regions within a larger state, all the peoples of the world have a right to enjoy freedom in their own homes.

A nation is born

It’s not every day that you enter a church for a service in one country and emerge an hour later in another. But this is what happened to me on the evening of 8 July at the Episcopal Cathedral in Juba, capital of what started the evening as southern Sudan. At midnight the church bells rang and a new nation – the Republic of South Sudan – was officially born.

Long before midnight, Juba, and the rest of South Sudan, had already erupted into exuberant celebration as car horns were honked and people danced in the streets. And the party then went on all through the night.

The people were rejoicing because, after nearly 50 years of struggle against the brutal Arab/Islamist regime in Khartoum, they had finally won their rights to freedom of religion and to their distinctively African culture in their own, sovereign, country.

Next day, with representatives of my NGO, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust, from the UK and the US, I attended South Sudan’s inspirational independence celebrations

The new nation of South Sudan has many problems to overcome, and needs the world’s goodwill and practical support. It was disappointing therefore to hear the sour and partisan opinions of a few commentators - some giving us the benefit of their views from outside South Sudan – that the newly born country may be heading for disaster.

I don’t agree with setting up either an individual or a society to fail. In rebutting the claims of the doomsayers I can do no better than quote the inspiring words of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir when he told the independence rally: “They say we will slip into civil war as soon as our flag is hoisted. They justify that by arguing that we are incapable of resolving our problems through dialogue. They charge that we are quick to revert to violence. They claim that our concept of democracy and freedom is faulty. It is incumbent on us to prove them all wrong!”

Having visited southern Sudan thirty times during the war and seeing the resilience, courage and resourcefulness of the people, I believe that they will certainly prove Salva Kiir right.

In the words of their new national anthem, God bless South Sudan!

Reagan Remembered

I am in Nigeria seeing at first hand some of the damage inflicted on churches, homes, and individuals by Islamic extremists following Nigeria’s general election earlier this year. This saw the defeat of the northern, Muslim, candidate and triggered an eruption of violence from his supporters. We have just witnessed numerous recently burned churches and heard the harrowing stories of Christians murdered for their faith.

Nigeria, particularly the northern states where Islamic sharia law has been adopted, is one of the front lines in the modern world war between liberty and oppression. It is always a privilege to stand beside those whose courage and faith are undaunted by the terrible threats they daily face.

But one downside of being away from London was that I was unable to attend the commemoration on 4 July of one of the victors in a previous global conflict, President Ronald Reagan. The highlight of the day was the unveiling of a statue of Ronald Reagan in Grosvenor Square, outside the US embassy. Speakers, who included Condelezza Rice and William Hague, played fulsome tribute both to Reagan and to Margaret Thatcher for their role in setting millions of people free from Communism. By all accounts it was a most stirring occasion.

Yet those who attended report a certain wistfulness. The world is scarcely a safer place than it was during the Cold War. And we shall only triumph in the modern-day fight against slavery and intolerance if we find leaders of the vision and clarity of action of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.