Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This Saturday the world will welcome the 193rd country to the international community. Southern Sudan will be the youngest African nation when it is officially inaugurated on 9 July in its capital, Juba. The road to independence has not been easy for Southern Sudan, withstanding two decades of civil war which have seen the deaths of more than 2½ million people and the displacement of more than five million people. Many of us have followed over the years the struggle of the Christian and animist people of the south against an Islamist regime in Khartoum and we know that Omar al-Bashir, the head of Sudan, is still wanted by the International Criminal Court. However, in 2005 North Sudan and South Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which led to the end this civil war. In October of that year the autonomous government was formed in Southern Sudan, in line with the peace agreement. This was followed by two years of tension which saw intense fighting take place, specifically over the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei on the north-south divide, near the Nuba Mountains. That has resumed recently, constituting an issue that has been going on since the 2005 peace agreement.

In June this year, governments of both the north and south signed an accord to demilitarize Abyei and allow in a United Nations force of Ethiopian peacekeepers. I must praise the United States government for its role in seeing that a referendum of millions of Southern Sudanese took place peacefully with the cooperation of the government and pressure from the Obama administration on Khartoum. According to the UN, clashes between Sudanese govern­ment forces and units of the South Sudan army in Southern Kordofan have led to more than 73,000 people fleeing their homes since 5 June—so the problem there has started again.

In 2008 the leaders of the north and the south reached a deal on the terms of a referendum on independence, which was decided in 2011. To their great credit, in January this year 98 per cent of the 8.5 million people of Southern Sudan, many of whom are illiterate, simply drew a hand with the word 'separation' on it, voting in favour of independence. At the time I hailed the vote, stating:

The people of Southern Sudan have today voted for freedom, for democracy and for peace. Southern Sudan has suffered ... poverty, war, devastation and destruction for too long. Today the people have spoken for a better world.

On Saturday we will see the fruit of the Southern Sudanese struggle for independ­ence come to fruition when the independence ceremonies take place in Juba. However, the flourishing of Southern Sudan as a nation can only be successful with the support of the international community. We must not let that region slide back into civil war. Many members of this House have a more intimate involvement with that situation, having many fine immigrants—indeed refugees—from Sudan in their electorates. Despite the momentous vote for independence, Southern Sudan faces enormous obstacles on becoming a new nation. Only 15 per cent of adults can read and write, more than half the population live on less than 75c a day, 47 per cent of the populace is described as being 'food deprived' and the life expectancy at birth is 42. Despite the current 6.7 billion barrels of oil reserves of Sudan, being the nation in general, Southern Sudan is heavily underdeveloped. Prior to its independence, 470,000 barrels of oil were pumped per day, three-quarters of which came from the south and the border regions. Unfortunately, the people of that region have not benefited from that. With reports of crackdowns and violence in the Nuba Mountains and in Northern Kordofan and continued tensions over Abyei, where the oil is produced, Southern Sudan faces an enormous challenge. As the United States Agency for International Development has characterised the situation in Southern Sudan, there is no greater post-conflict reconstruction challenge that has been faced anywhere else in the world. Within our humanity we should strive to give our children better than we ourselves received. If Australia can play its small part in lifting the children of Southern Sudan out of abject poverty, by assisting with the development of universal education and with nation building, we will surely be on our way to alleviating some of the ills that the Southern Sudanese people have suffered. The hope that was shown by the Southern Sudanese people who came out and voted in droves for independence and their belief that the day after tomorrow will be a better one than the one before should show that this newest country, even with its enormous challenges, is capable—as all people are—of overcoming obstacles for a brighter future. I hope to attend the independence celebrations in Southern Sudan, and I know that the people of Australia wish the people of Southern Sudan well. (Time expired)