Show New Prospects in Sudan Call People Home Emily Wax The Washington Post Wearing a bright orange jersey and baggy jeans Thian 27 sauntered into a thatch-roofed thatch bar and made a request in his acquired Tennessee twang YalI have high speed Internet the recently returned refugee asked getting only blank looks in response Oh man he said my country needs a lot of work With peace in place after a 21 year civil war and the discovery of oil in the region southern Sudan one of the poorest places in Africa suddenly has the potential to become one of the richest It is luring luring lur- lur luring lur lur- ing home people such as Thian and galvanizing veterans of its long Sudan Cant Conf on Page 3 1 c i Y L c 7 r V M tf i. i e r 1 J. J Sudan Cont Conf from front guerrilla war As a new society emerges roads and schools ar are being built and the Internet is not far behind Thian left Sudan nine years ago fleeing across the border to Ethiopia and eventually making his way to the United States There he finished school and worked as a baggage manager manager manager man man- ager at a Tennessee airport saving money and hoping to return home He made it back this summer but when he arrived Thian found a devastated devastated devastated dev dev- region where land mines blocked him from returning to his childhood village miles from this regional capital Even in the streets of desperate people tugged on his trendy clothes begging for food The depressing scene seemed far from the optimistic optimistic optimistic stories of peace he had read about in the United States With a bach bach- elors elor's degree in aerospace administration from Middle Tennessee State l University ver 1 i ty Thian wa was offered a job instantly instantly but but buthe he found it just as disorienting disori- disori disori disorienting enting as his return They asked me to be air traffic controller he bellowed bellowed bellowed bel bel- bel- bel lowed sweating under the pounding sun I 1 I was like Dang I dont don't really know how to do that But they will train me so I was like OK whatever Thian's willingness to take a chance embodies the general mood in postwar southern Sudan where the stakes for millions of people people people peo peo- their are as high as hopes L 2 r f More than man Sudanese professionals have returned from East Africa and the West since the south north-south peace accord was signed in January They include businessmen businessmen businessmen busi busi- college professors sors and basketball players as well as recent graduates hoping to land a job Some have reunited with family members others like Thian have moved into new tent-hotels tent set up by an American firm Were not talking about reconstruction We are talking talking talking talk talk- ing about total tion The UN U.N. has never undertaken anything like this said David Gressley the head of UN U.N. operations in southern Sudan The opportunities here are I i tremendous But so are aree some of the risks e On July 31 just weeks after Thian returned John the leader of the southern rebel movement architect of the and key peace deal died in a helicopter helicopter helicopter heli heli- copter crash causing concern conI concern con con- I cern that the shaky agreement agree agree- ment went would collapse I b Thian said he prayed when he heard the news and then unwound in his tent spinning hop hip-hop songs on his CD pla player er But rioting soon broke out in the capital Khartoum and in the southern city of Juba pitting Muslim northerners northerners northerners north north- erners against Christian and animist southerners Violence has since subsided subsided subsided sub sub- sided and Salva longtime longtime long long- longtime time deputy in the rebel Sudan Peoples People's Liberation Army has taken his place as the nations nation's vice dent Even so some harried returnees including Thian have made contingency plans to go back to the United States But for now he said I 1 will stay and see how it plays out Thian and his friends from the diaspora often stroll the rutted red-dirt red paths around They have learned a local joke about riding home on Bus 11 To explain Thian slapped each of his lone long legs One plus one equals 11 he said with a rueful laugh legs b are the Si i tA m f only transport in South Souto Sudan There are in fact no buses in the interim interim interim inter inter- im capital of the south Nor Noris Noris is there a bonded banking system a newspaper a civil administration or even a motorbike service to carry villagers to and from town Even so is flourishing compared with places less than miles away In rural County feeding centers are filled with malnourished children at rates even higher high high- er than in Niger according to J James ames Lorenz a spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders here The food crisis has been caused by a combination of factors Lorenz said including wartime land mines that impede farming a surge of about returnees from Khartoum and several thousand refugees from Sudan's separate separate separate sep sep- arate war in the western region of Darfur The regions region's land is so fertile that once developed it could feed the entire Middle East a recent UN U.N. study found But the war which took 2 million lives and displaced 4 million people has kept southern Sudan in a primitive state with antiquated farm tools no running water and women more likely to die in Childbirth than finish primary primary primary mary school To build a modern modem society society society soci soci- ety and retain public support support support sup sup- port the leaders of the region must make the transition transition transition tran tran- from guerrilla movement movement movement move move- ment to government unite fractious militia groups and quickly develop services and infrastructure Most people here see the discovery of oil as the best d chance f for for- prosperity for But they also f fear it could bring nepotism corruption and chaotic fighting as has happened in neighboring Congo where thuggish militias battle for control over gold and diamond resources The enormity of the task is numbing said Steven the former rebel groups group's representative in Washington who was visiting We have a lot of sharp edges to smooth out Anyone who returns has to have faith |