"The successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup is a great cause for pride for the continent. It is a validation, barring any unforeseen accidents, that we are about to rise above the usual black hole of stereotyping that has soiled Africa since time immemorial," writes NSV's Joseph Deng Garang.

(Omaha, Nebraska NSV) - On the eve of the World Cup finals, I wrote on my Facebook page about how people would be feeling all the blues after the final whistle, fretting over what to watch after a month-long fixation on sports channels that showcased the best of nations and their talents in the game of football.

I also suggested how we should instead help celebrate South Africa and the entire continent of Africa for pulling off what naysayers said couldn't be done. Those celebrations are in the works, but before I indulge too much in the delight of the after parties of the 2010 World Cup, a little historical perspective would be in order.

In May 2004 South Africa won the bidding to host the FIFA World Cup games of 2010. But even after that acceptance, the road to the first ever Africa's World Cup was not rosy. It was rocky. Just months after the announcement, uncertainty and doubts crept in.

First it was the question of planning, and organization; then it was on whether there would be sound budget and whether tickets would sell well; finally it was on the overall readiness, the infrastructure and the state of security. But in all of those cases, the leadership and the people of South Africa delivered.

They defied the usual stereotypes that have characterized how certain quarters of the world have always viewed Africa.

And so it was on June 11, 2010, after the whole world had waited with bated breath, the generous people of South Africa opened and treated the world to a month-long, colorful celebration of "the most-watched sporting event on earth."  So it was on July 11 when the last whistle sounded and the last sounds of vuvuzela were poured, the European nation of Spain took home the biggest Prize.

It is true history and hope-filled events sometimes do come together to help nations shape their sense of direction and that is precisely what has just happened to  the people of Africa who are still wallowing in the glory of their first successful World Cup games.

The successful hosting of the 2010 World Cup is a great cause for pride for the continent. It is a validation, barring any unforeseen accidents, that we are about to rise above the usual black hole of stereotyping that has soiled Africa since time immemorial.

In classroom across Africa, students have read in history books about the system of apartheid in South Africa, the killing of the vocal student leader Steve Biko, the detention of the legendary Nelson Mandela and his release to head and heal a nation.

But a decade and half after the death of apartheid, that brutal past has not dampened the spirit of a people to come together as one community of mosaic.

Roger Cohen, a columnist for The New York Times who grew up in South Africa during the earliest and darkest years of apartheid, said:  "I do know the naysayers overlooked something invisible, race-blind South African spirit. I also know we’re much better at covering conflict than community, and borders than their banishment on Facebook."

Mr. Cohen added, “This particular World Cup is political. It is an affirmation of a nation’s miraculous (if incomplete) healing, of African dignity, and of a continent that deserves better than those tired images of violence and disease."

The apartheid, as Cohen said in the same article, "was about denial — of skills to blacks, of mobility to blacks, of a living wage to blacks, of the very humanity of blacks."

This World Cup had so many faces for everyone in Africa: the young, not so young, old and all in between.

This World Cup will live in the iconic pages of Jessica Hilltout, a nomadic, Belgian-born photographer who took it upon herself to document pictures---the immortal objects made by  small children across Africa who were jovial in anticipation of the World Cup: "the homemade balls fashioned by children from plastic bags, old socks and rags, tied up with string or strips of tree bark. These ingenious, improvised balls bounce like real ones for a few days before the air escapes," wrote The New York Times.

"Gleeful little boys in Burkina Faso leap in exultation as their team scores. A young fisherman goes airborne as he hits a header on a beach in Togo. Barefoot boys in Ghana lope gracefully across a field as their slender, elongated shadows chase them."

Over the years, the world was calling our bluffs and now the naysayers stand corrected, because of what we have achieved.

So to the African nation of Ghana, although the Black Stars lost, you showed the world how to lose gracefully.

And to the great people of South Africa, thank you from a grateful continent and its proudest souls.

Go ahead and win the second bidding to host the Olympics in 2020, and we will officially be off to launching the African Century. I can see it. Africa's future is dawning!

*Joseph Deng Garang is the President of The New Sudan Vision. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Miyar de Nyok

(Calgary AB) - 

Due to the difficulties being experienced by both parties, the Government of Canada recently invited the Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM) and National Congress party (NCP) delegations to study Quebec Referendum (QR). Both SPLM and NCP are the CPA partners charged with the responsibility of implementing the plebiscite outcomes. The delegation committees were here in Canada to do comparative studies on the Quebec referendum in regard to upcoming referendum in January 2011. The referendum outcomes will be the litmus test for the integrity and continuity of social and democratic systems either in a united Sudan or independent South Sudan.

Although the responsibility of accepting the referendum outcomes will be for the SPLM and NCP to compromise, the South Sudanese citizens have the right to determine their fate whether to remain in the current Sudan or not. The Southern Sudanese in Canada were previously puzzled by the SPLM refusal to allow them to participate in the referendum exercises. However, they are now given constitutional rights in the referendum bill to participate in the plebiscite exercises. The SPLM fears the forging of the referendum outcomes and the facts that many Southern Sudanese living in diasporas don’t possess Sudanese identification documents, makes it very difficult to attain concrete and fair results. This fact remains a dilemma that needs caution and scrutiny by South Sudanese living in diasporas whether to participate or not.

In Calgary, Alberta, the South Sudanese Canadians were briefed on the referendum by the SPLM delegation. The delegation members explained the priorities for the Government of South Sudan 2010 as follows:

1) referendum

2) Governance

3) Security

4) Food Security

5) Basic social services.

As they discussed all the issues, they mentioned that SPLM priority is referendum.

The delegation members clearly stipulated that lack of identification documents will not be an obstacle preventing anyone to participate in the referendum. They mentioned that people who don’t have Sudanese identification documents will be assisted to vote in the referendum exercises by United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees (UNCHR), International Organizations for Immigration (IOM) and the South Sudanese community can also confirm an individual to vote if they are sure that s/he is a Southerner. In addition, the delegation members mentioned that voting centres will be assigned depending on the number of registered members in a particular city. This assignment and requirement is that a city must register 20,000 members; otherwise Ottawa will be the only designated centre for anyone who has registered to vote -a task that is squarely lying on the Southern Sudanese community in Canada.

On the other hand, the delegation members put a caveat that it is the sole responsibility of an individual to decide whether s/he will be registered for referendum exercises. This caveat reflects the fear SPLM is having toward voting outside of Southern Sudan regions. I think SPLM has a point because the referendum votes may be altered in favour of unity by NCP since NCP is now campaigning for united state. Thus, if there is going to be failure of achieving 61% for secession; this failure may result from the manipulated votes outside of Southern Sudan regions.

Therefore, it would be advisable for an individual to think twice before registering for the referendum exercises. Furthermore, it will be a mistake in our history to fail ourselves at the last stage toward achieving the right for self-determination as independent state of South Sudan. I am a diasporan myself and I trust my judgement if I decide to register later, it is going to be my commitment, having in mind that I do not want to fail our people who have suffered since 1955.

The South Sudanese in diasporas have to be very careful on the referendum exercises albeit the constitutional rights on referendum bill that have allowed them to participate. We must not allow the NCP opportunists to derail away our 61% for separation. Moreover, I am just warning and not suggesting that we should not vote in the referendum, it is our dutiful rights to decide collectively as citizens who have been disenfranchised and marginalized in the hostage of injustice and inequities.

More importantly, it is imperative not to fail self-determination toward making it a separation. When we all make that historic vote for secession, it is going to be our solemn duty and we owe it to our martyrs and living generations. The fruition of self-determination to secession will tailor hems for the destiny and prosperity of Southern Sudanese and marginalized regions.

Recommendations

• The diasporas have to thoroughly do registration screening by counties and states

• The chief returning officers must be trusted Southern Sudanese

• The Southern Sudan must work hand in hand with Canadian government to assist in conducting fair plebiscite exercises

• SPLM must also be careful with tactful means NCP has now employed

• SPLM should be the one verifying the referendum votes tallying

• SPLM advisory committees on referendum must continue assisting and guiding the diasporas during registration and voting

 Miyar De’Nyok is a graduate of the University of Waterloo. You can reach him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it