SATURDAY, July 9, 2011, the continent of Africa recorded another historic landmark, this time away from liberation from the shackles of colonialism to the birth of a new nation, South Sudan. South Sud an becomes Africa’s 54th nation and the world’s 193rd independent nation.

Hopefully, the protocols required for admission into both the African Union and the United Nations would be concluded shortly, but that will be mere formality. Saturday’s ceremonies conclude the long and tortuous struggle by the deprived South Sudanese to disengage from 56 years of incompatible marriage with the North.

The date, July 9 was not a mere coincidence in the birth of South Sudan as a new nation. It is a date carefully chosen in 2005 to inaugurate Colonel John Garang, former leader of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement, SPLM, as the Vice President of the Republic of Sudan. Garang became Vice President in accordance with the power sharing agreement reached with the government of President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended Sudan’s 21 years of hostilities and armed conflict. Unfortunately, Garang died in a plane crash in August, just a month after his inauguration. It is not quite often that those who lead a revolution live to see it come true. In death, he remains the hero of South Sudan’s nationhood. And as acknowledged by the country’s new President Salva Kiir: “Our martyrs did not die in vain. We have waited for more than 56 years for this day. It is a day that will be forever engraved on our hearts and minds”.

But what went wrong in the Sudan, a nation that once pledged to remain indivisible, but now separated by a thin line? Big country, big trouble, Sudan is a victim of colonial mal-administration and balkanisation of Africa, where incompatible ethnic nationalities were lumped together to form nation states. This has instigated long-drawn ethnic hatred and sectarian violence, sometimes degenerating into civil wars, as is also the case of the DRC, Chad, Burundi and Rwanda, etc.

It was part of the grand design by the colonialists that set the agenda for raging conflicts in and around the African continent. The territorial demarcations we have today were drawn to ward off competing colonial interests, and not in any way designed to foster national cohesion or development. They partitioned the continent, created artificial boundaries and formed incongruous nation-states that separated hitherto homogeneous entities and peoples and in most other cases, brought together arch-enemies and rivals. The Sudan unfortunately falls into this category of nations.

Sudan has had an unenviable record of instability since the country gained independence on January 1, 1956. And in all, the nation has had only 11 years of relative peace. It started with the military incursion of 1958, led by General Ibrahim Abbud who was in power until 1964.

In 1962, the government went to war with the Anya Nya Movement in the south. There was also the revolution of October 1964 that toppled General Abbud, followed by the “May Revolution” that brought in General Gaafar Mohammed Nimeiri to power in 1969. In 1971, some leaders of the Sudanese Communist Party were executed after an abortive coup plot against General Nimeiri. In 1983, President Nimeiri introduced the Islamic Shari’a laws in Sudan. Southern Christians and animists violently opposed the decision.

This led to nationwide unrest and mutiny, forcing the SPLM to wage war against the government. Amidst widespread popular unrest, a group of officers, in 1985, deposed President Nimeiri in a military coup.

A Transitional Military Council, TMC, was set up to conduct the 1986 general elections. Sadiq al-Mahdi emerged prime minister only to be deposed in yet another military coup led by the National Salvation Revolution in 1989. In 1993, Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir was appointed president by the Revolution Command Council, RCC, and has remained in office since then, even as peace and tranquility still elude Sudan.

For 21 years, the country was embroiled in religious war between the Muslim north and the Christian and Animist minorities in the south. An estimated two million people perished with four million others displaced. Despite various agreements reached, the first stanza of the conflict did not end until the North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed in January 2005.

The outcome of that agreement is the January 2011 referendum that set the stage for the independence of South Sudan, which is being celebrated today.

However, the freedom of South Sudan does not mean an end to the problems in Sudan. The troubled western region of Darfur presents an excruciating pain in the neck of both the African Union and the United Nations. Unfortunately, the seemingly intractable Sudanese conflicts have bred quite a number of rebel groups operating from different fronts beyond the immediate control of the international community. The Darfur crisis has assumed wider dimensions that spread instability and security challenges to Sudan’s immediate neighbours, especially Chad and Central African Republic.

South Sudan is gone but can President Al-Bashir be trusted with peace and good neighbourliness needed to stabilise the country for effective political and economic development. Is he ready to let go the disputed oil-rich Abayei and Southern Kordofan regions? This is a major source of concern.

Mr. IFEOHA AZIKIWE, an author, writes from Lagos.