Drawing the Lines Between North and South Sudan

Following more than two decades of the young nation's second civil war, a yet to be determined group of voters in South Sudan plan to hold a referendum on independence in January 2011. For many in the south, the potential prosperity of an independent South Sudan has been a long time coming. But where will the borders between North and South Sudan lie? The area in question is the subject of this image of the week. While the image is a bit underwhelming, the issues are beyond intriguing.

Because I am fascinated with cartography, independence and Africa it was natural for me to come across a fascinating article written by Rengo Gyyw Rengo,Jr on the website www.southsudannation.com. While the original link is gone. You can still access his article here. I followed up with Rengo and have since corresponded with him several times.

While the thought of an independent South Sudan is exciting and has been surprisingly accepted in concept by Omar al-Bashir, much work remains before it can become reality. Recent comments from Khartoum hint at the fact that the North will not support a vote by the South if the precise borders have not been drawn.

I've included a map below showing the regions of Sudan from Wikicommons to give you a frame of reference.

For more info on the regions (such as a legend) check out the Southern Sudan wiki page. It's important to note that the voter pool has not been decided yet and represents another serious challenge before the vote can take place.

After reading al-Bashir's comments on borders I followed up with Rengo and recieved the following:

"Regarding the political atmosphere surrounding the conduct of referendum for South Sudan and those other thorny issues which parties use as preconditions for referendum and lack of political will towards the possible conduct of referendum, its repercussions and so on, are matters to be looked at by all. I have been pondering about the border issue, and I happened to have attended a political rally in Juba on 30th July last month to have a grasp at contentious issues and I can now fairly examine the possibilities ahead in an opinion analysis.

You have given me an honour to now accept to write something about it."

I'm excited that I have a pen pal in south Sudan who attends political rallies in Juba! How cool is that?

I'm looking forward to Rengo's comments and will be sure to post a link when they become available.

Will Kosovo's Quest Pave the Way for Somaliland?

Another exciting piece of political and geographic history occurred today as the International Court of Justice ruled the independence of Kosovo was not a violation of international law. This is another critical step in Kosovo's path towards international recognition. It's natural to think that this is a step in the right direction for other States seeking to have their independence recognized like Abkhazia and Somaliland but this will not end up helping their cause in the slightest. It's all political BS.

This is good news for the Kosovoan people (I should probalby say those seeking independence) but this ruling does little to change my negative view on the international community's shunning of Somaliland.

Vice President Biden just reiterated the United States' "unwavering commitment to Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity." KOSOVO's territorial integrity! Are you kidding, Joe? Does that mean we invoke the Monroe Doctrine only when it is convenient? If we're going to site territorial integrity, we can't HIDE behind it when LEGITIMATE claims surface.

Feel free to argue with me the legitimacy of Somaliland's claim! Prove me wrong! This has nothing to do with the Organization of African Unity trying to keep the borders as they exist. Somaliland is breaking away from Somalia, NOT Italian Somaliland.

The US has spent BILLIONS of dollars working to form effective democracies overseas. However, when one emerges organically, despite little monetary support and being located next to (or part of) arguably the most unstable place on earth, the US refuses to recognize it. Africa has suffered from colonial borders and disinvestment for decades. Why can we not support a success story in such a strategic area? Let's get passed the Monroe Doctrine already! Oh wait, I forgot, Biden already said we get to pick and choose when we follow that Doctrine!

So while we've always hated Slobodan, we love our pirates and could care less about the growing presence of Al-Shabab in the horn of Africa!

Update: I came across a Serb Kosovo blog I thought I'd share with you. One great thing about the interweb is the ability to find other sides of a story!

Imagining Somaliland

I've been watching a lot of the show Pawn Stars on the History Channel lately. My favorite guest expert on the show is Sean Rich, who specializes in antique arms and armor. He eloquently discusses his interest in antique arms in terms of imagining who it was to have held a gun or what someone must have been thinking when striking a blade to another blade in combat during the Civil War. Sean says that each weapon has a story to tell. That same thought, wonder and imagination is one of the reasons I'm so fascinated by maps. Each little tiny dot with a name next to it represents not just a city, but a place - with residents, history, landmarks and a story to tell. A world map is of particular interest because one can view the spatial relationship of all of these places at one time.

A place with an intriguing story to tell is Somalia, which, on July 1st celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence. Strife has plagued the young country for much of its existence following its independence from Britain. Today it is arguably the most unstable place on earth. Despite its strategic location on the horn of Africa, the gulf of Aden and serving as the entry point to the red sea and the Suez canal, the country ranks 224th in per capita GDP.

The northern reaches of what is recognizes internationally as Somalia, Somaliland, declared independence from Somalia in 1991. In an effort to build an economy and gain international recognition as an independent State, they began printing their own currency in 1994, the Somaliland Shilling. The release of the currency coincided with the elimination of the Somali Shilling as an accepted currency in Somaliland.

After a little research I became interested in obtaining some Somaliland currency. To my surprise I was able to find Somaliland shillings for sale. I used what the transformers use to find rare artifacts...ebay. I purchased a 500 shilling note from Robert at Robertsworldmoney.com. If you're looking to purchase foreign currency check out Robert's site. He has a wonderful collection of uncirculated currency. He also is a very kind salesman and is one of the very few who has been able to successfully blend hobby and business.

Here is an example of the 500 Somaliland Shilling note. They really are beautiful and one wonders how they are able to print something of such quality with a value of less than a dime.

Despite the lack of international recognition as a State, Somaliland appears to be a beautiful place in its own right. Check out a great collection of images from Somaliland.

More to come on Somaliland's quest for recognition.