Southern Sudan Feels Freedom Close at Hand

The south produces around 75 percent of Sudan’s oil, but it is landlocked, so some arrangement will have to be struck for southern oil to keep flowing through the pipeline in the north. The border will also have to be demarcated, including the tinderbox Abyei area, where Arab nomads historically have crossed back and forth. Billions of dollars of debt will have to be shared.
But most southerners are not thinking of technicalities. This is not simply a political moment, a time for a new line on the map or a new seat at the United Nations.
“This is a dream,” Mr. Nyuol said, “a dream we always hoped would come true, even if it took one thousand years.”

　独立をドラマティックに報じるニューヨークタイムズ。確かに、油田の帰属問題等いろいろあるようですし、この独立はアメリカ政府がかなり関わっていたものでもあるのですが、スーダンの人々の思いの熱さみたいなものを伝えたくなる気持ちもわかるような気がします。
　今、新しい国ができるということはどういうことなのか。これからも注目していきたいニュースです。