The light that failed: South Sudan’s ‘new dawn’ turns to utter nightmare

Nearly 400,000 have died since it won independence 10 years ago. Now violence looms again, within and beyond its borders

Independence isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Recent additions to the family of nations, such as Kosovo and East Timor (Timor-Leste), have struggled to find their feet. In 2017, Catalonia's secessionists split their homeland in two. Scottish referendum voters took a pass in 2014. The uncomplicated glory days when third world" liberation movements ousted colonial regimes seem a long time ago.

South Sudan, which marked its 10th birthday on Friday, came late to Africa's independence party - the product of a complex 2005 deal to end Sudan's decades-old civil war. Barack Obama, seeking the credit, waxed lyrical. Today is a reminder that after the darkness of war, the light of a new dawn is possible," he declared.