US formally recognizes South Sudan: Obama
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama announced early Saturday that the United States formally recognized the newly-created Republic of South Sudan.
"I am proud to declare that the United States formally recognizes the Republic of South Sudan as a sovereign and independent state upon this day, July 9, 2011," the president said in a statement.
South Sudan's independence comes after more than 50 years of conflict between the southern rebels and successive Khartoum governments that left the region in ruins, millions of people dead and a legacy of mutual mistrust.
The 2005 comprehensive peace agreement (CPA) that finally ended the conflict, and which was signed under intense pressure from foreign countries, particularly the United States, Britain and Norway, paved the way for a referendum on southern independence in January.
Around 99 percent of southerners voted to split from the north.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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