Birth of a nation: Juba preparing for independence

Hi there,

It’s been two weeks since my last update, and time sure flies by when you’re having fun. I have been back for two weeks now, and already I am swamped with my remaining transcriptions, moving back into my own apartment, meeting up with friends I haven’t seen since I left, my student job on the train and even what we in Dutch would describe as the ‘dagelijkse sleur’. I am actually surprised about how fast I have gotten used again to everything here. Though, the past week I did find it difficult to settle here in Utrecht again. Because I do miss Juba and the life I build there, even if it only was for three months. And the weather sure doesn’t help, the first week I was back the Netherlands was waaay too cold for my taste. For three months, I did not suffer from any cold, and the second week I am back in the Netherlands, and I am walking around with a drippy nose and the urge to sneeze all the time. I must say, after two weeks of rain here, there is nothing wrong with a reasonable 40C. Juba heat has its perks.

In my previous blog I promised that my next update would be about the event of the year: the independence of South Sudan. When I wrote my previous blog, my head was still full with all the impressions of the final week of my stay in South Sudan. The past week I have also taken the time to sort out the memories, along with some amazing pictures and short video clips that have been made during independence and the days leading up to the big event. Because there are just too many pictures I would like to show, I am posting two blogs; one on the preparations I have been witness to during the final weeks before independence, and a blog on independence day itself.

In other blogs I have already made some remarks about the fast changing face of Juba as capital of the new Republic of South Sudan. I already have spoken about the massive cleaning campaign the new Mayor of Juba had initiated in order to present a clean Juba to the approximately 100.000 international guests (both invited and uninvited). In one of my first blog posts I have also mentioned the mindset of people in the city – after I just arrived in Juba I felt people were both preparing for a big party, but also for potential disaster. Looking back on the final month before independence, I can now say that the different (inter)national actors, including the Government of South Sudan, the African Union and even the UN and President al-Bashir from the North, have managed to avoid the potential major political disasters. Of course, many issues are still unresolved; Abyei is still a contested area, South Kordofan and the Nuba mountains are still troubled zones, but the potential renewal of war between the North and the South local newspapers in Juba wrote about somewhere in the beginning of June has been avoided.

Particularly the final month before independence, it became really noticeable that the country was preparing itself. When I arrived in Juba, the GoSS had just ordered the construction of five new terminals at Juba International Airport. Two months long the construction site next to the Airport looked like they would never finish on time, but during the final three weeks the Chinese pulled out all stops, and managed to actually finish three of five terminals (on the inside that is, the outside is still not much to look at). Tarmac road construction was already taking place when I arrived in Juba, but during the final weeks before independence road construction took place 24/7, and suddenly road markers started to appear everywhere – forcing people to actually follow traffic regulations, which was quite a shock for the normally crazy Juba traffic – and workers employed by the City Council tried to plant flower beds next to the roads, which got trampled like ‘all the time’ until the police started to close off the roads at night.

Maybe it is typical for the people of South Sudan, but with most of the construction work for independence they did not start until four to three weeks before independence. One month before independence, the government started planting trees and flowers at the site of the memorial for John Garang, as an attempt to build a full garden there. If they were really planning to transform that site into a garden, they should have started at least a year ago. The government also started renovating the old football stadium a month before independence. That one was actually finished one day before the big event, thanks to a large amount of hard working Koreans that have been working for 7 days a week, for 14 hours a day. And two weeks before the 9th, the government ordered the shops at Customs across the Memorial to be demolished, in order to construct the main stage there, as well as the main area where the common people could celebrate. Within a single day, big bulldozers managed to demolish and clear away all the small shops where I used to buy my telephone credit.

Of course, the nearing independence also became more noticeable through less pleasant ways, particularly the tightening of security. The first weekend Gemma came to visit was also the first weekend the army held a large weapons check at every entry to the city, and within the city at every payam entry. The next weekend marked both a general weapons check on the roads every night and the closing off of several main roads after six o’clock in the evening. When at one evening Yvonne, Christopher and I went to Bros for music and dancing, we encountered three weapon checks on our way back to the compound. Two weeks before independence, military police were stationed at every market, to check for weapons and possible suicide bombers from Somalia (there had been rumors suicide bombers from Somalia would try something during independence). The markets were also closed off at seven every night, including the restaurant area of Hai Mouna, the entrance to Munuki payam I always took. At Hai Mouna the military police performed a regular weapons check as well, and a couple of times I also have been frisked. Because people were required to wait to be frisked, it happened that a couple of times I was unable to return to the compound before dark. Luckily, Stephen was with me one time, and the second time I met up with a guy of whom I knew that he lived close to the compound.

But during the final two weeks before independence, people started to prepare themselves as well, and quite enthusiastically. The national flag started to appear everywhere, in stores, in and on top of cars, matatu’s, on people their boda’s and bicycles. Huge posters started to appear everywhere as well, honouring John Garang, the SPLA, the martyrs of the war and so on. Groups of people started moving around, carrying flags and singing songs or just dancing in the street as some sort of pre-celebration (some of it cannot have been spontaneous, but they made for interesting sights). Near the Parliament and the Memorial the military and youth groups practiced the massive military parade that would officially take place on the 9th and the day before twice a week. Once, when I was still doing fieldwork in Northern Bari, I ended up almost right in the middle of such a parade, when I had to wait at the Customs bus park (which also got demolished four days later) because the traffic had been halted due to the parade. People asked me to join them watching the parade, and I of course went along with them. But when we arrived at the front, suddenly ten PR guys came at me, demanding from me why I was there, shouting at me that journalists were not allowed to watch the parade. It took me over fifteen minutes to convince them I was not a journalist, but a graduate student waiting for the bus. Thinking back now, it is a pity I didn’t dare to take any pictures, because it sure was impressive, watching all these different military ranks and youth groups marching by.

After Gemma and I came back from Torit, the city really went wild. News reporters from all over the world could be seen filming everywhere – Gemma and I for instance met a nice group of BBC journalists at Bedouin after I managed to slip when we were walking near the river bank and required some bandages for a bleeding knee. And when I took Gemma to Nyakuron, we encountered a traditional dancing group from Bahr-a-Ghazal that was practicing for the celebrations. One of the great things about those final days before independence was that people started to encourage everyone to take pictures, instead of demanding of you to show a permit first. So those final days we managed to shoot some great pictures of the signs in the streets and other preparations, including the dance practice at Nyakuron.

The celebrations informally started on the 8th. Or to be more specific, on the night of the 8th/9th. With the entire ICCO staff, Gemma and I started the celebrations by going out dining and dancing at Queen of Sheba, and I was not surprised when I was called on stage to dance again. After Queen of Sheba we tried to go to one of the official pre-celebration parties, but it seemed that the entire city of Juba had decided to venture out that evening to start the celebrations a couple of hours early. As a result, we got stuck in a massive traffic jam, which took us through the entire city, where we saw people celebrating everywhere. People were running around with flags, torches, sitting with 20 men on top and inside of cars, people were shouting, dancing, singing, crying, cheering, honking all the time in a specific rhythm which everyone joined. And even the military, that only a couple of days before checked everyone for weapons quite extensively during the night hours, celebrated along with the rest, cheering, waving around with their Kalashnikovs and even saluting us when we passed by. So instead of going to the party, we just went along with the traffic jam, honking, shouting, whistling and cheering with the rest of Juba.

Getting stuck in the traffic jam was a great way to start the celebrations, and also was a great pre-warming party for the actual independence itself. My next blog post (which I will post either tomorrow or the day after that, I do have to work on my thesis) will contain the impressions, pictures and videos of the best party of the year.

With love,

Anika