Arriving at Juba International Airport is an exciting and daunting experience. Orderly chaos and extreme heat overwhelm tired travelers nervously peering through the scramble for luggage, visas and entry clearance. The small arrival hall is bursting at its’ seams with more and more airlines now flying into the capital of the world’s newest country. On the fringes of the runway lie the dilapidated remains of military helicopters left over from over 50 years of conflict. And a fleet of bright white UN aircraft is a stark reminder that the recent peace is a prized but fragile achievement.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan through a long-awaited referendum held in January 2011. Six months later and after the weeks of celebrations came to a gradual end, this landlocked country of approximately 10 million people began the vast exercise of nation and state-building. A history of over 50 years of civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian South meant that South Sudan was starting from scratch. At independence, the country (half the size of South Africa) famously had less than 100km of tarred roads. This is gradually changing and the main trade routes between neighbouring Uganda and Kenya, which still provide the bulk of South Sudan’s food and other supplies, are improving. Access to other areas is challenging, especially when the notorious rainy season renders most of the country’s state capitals impassable by road and in extreme conditions, by air.

Social infrastructure is dismal and most citizens walk hours every day to access schools, clinics and water points. Infant, child and maternal mortality rates are the highest in the world. Apart from the 7000-strong United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) working  to consolidate the  peace and foster long-term statebuilding and economic development,  Juba is now also home to hundreds of international and local Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that deliver basic humanitarian services including water and sanitation, health care, and education. Others are involved in mediating the country-wide largely ethic micro-conflicts which continue to undermine the few gains that have been made thus far.

Relations with Sudan are strained, especially around the contentious issue of oil. The oil itself is located almost exclusively in South Sudan. The pipeline which transports the oil runs through Sudan into that country’s port at Khartoum. Major negotiations are underway to construct a new pipeline through Kenya into the port of Lamu, but this is a long term project and heavily dependent on relative peace in the country. While Juba is unable to contain the ethnically fuelled conflicts in places like Jonglei, and while disarmament programmes remain incomplete and fraught with human rights violations, major investment in South Sudan is still on hold.

Against this brief backdrop, it is easy to become despondent and impatient. At the same time it is vital to acknowledge that which this embryonic nation has achieved in very little time. The country has its own currency (the South Sudanese Pound), a full international diplomatic service including representation at the United Nations. It has a new flag, anthem, dialling code and many of the country’s educated diasporians have returned home to work for government, start businesses and create relationships between their home country and the United States and Europe. An improved constitution is in the making. Just two weeks ago President Salva Kiir took a firm stance on corruption and sacked two Ministers embroiled in a multi-million dollar financial scandal.

The future of this troubled young nation will be defined by the extent to which the ruling liberation party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, will be able to effectively govern this vast land. The international community has an important role to play in every regard but must focus on helping the government do its job and not replace it altogether.

Written by Friederike Bubenzer, Senior Project Leader of the Great Horn in Africa Desk and the coordinator of the Transitional Justice in Africa Fellows Programme at the South African Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.