Independent South Sudan is jubilant, wobbly a day later

From The LA Times-

On the day after independence in South Sudan, the modest clock tower in downtown Juba read "Free at Last," and the dirt roadsides were littered with countless paper flags bearing the colors of the new republic. Most of the dignitaries in town for Saturday's big ceremony had flown home, and streets that had been jammed for days — bristling with checkpoints and the machine guns of security forces — were easier to navigate.

But the city was far from quiet Sunday, the second official day of South Sudan's sovereign existence, as celebrations continued. The national soccer team played Kenya, and families slaughtered goats they had saved for big occasions and invited neighbors to eat.
Jubilation is everywhere, but in Christian churches, liberation from the mostly Muslim Arab north — made possible by a 2005 peace deal — carried a special resonance. At the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, people danced and chanted, "Salva! Salva! Salva!" — invoking Salva Kiir, the country's first president — and thanked God. At the midday service, the biblical reading was about the Lord delivering his people from bondage to the Promised Land.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fg-sudan-aftermath-20110711,0,5146345.story