Political and geographical but not social secession

Today, Saturday July 9^th, South Sudan is due to declare officially its divorce and independence from the North. But it seems to be a political and geographical secession rather than a social one considering that the people of the south and the north will never end their social relationship because of this secession, but they, instead, will continue building and establishing new social links. The proof to my argument is the following translated story which was written by the reporter Ayman Abdullah of Alsudani, Arabic newspaper.

Hours before secession ... Kiir's sister gets married to a northerner!

Hours before the Declaration of the secession of southern Sudan in Burj Al-Fateh in Khartoum and in a gathering of a number of different Sudanese tribes, listening to the hot Sudanese dance rhythm (Alddloka), northerners and southerners danced at the wedding party of the sister of Salva Kiir, the President of Southern Sudan Government, to northerner from Al-Batahin tribe. The wedding was attended by a number of the stars of the Sudanese community in the south and the north, led by tribal elders from Batahin and Dinka and Misseriya who enjoyed the wedding ceremony and danced all the night.

Dar Salam Kiirr whose grandfather on the mother's side, the late Ali Nimir, was the elder of the Misseriya northern tribe was married to Abdul Bagi Ibrahim, son of Al –Batahin tribe and one of the wealthy families of Khartoum. Abdel Bagi went dancing around the gathering raising his right hand and holding his bride's hand with his left to exchange congratulations and dancing with his family and relatives of his wife. End of story.

Joint interests between the two states

The major and crucial issue, after the declaration of the independence of the South, I think, is the cooperation between the two states. Because there are many joint interests between the two states at the political, economic and social levels that impose on the two governments of the two countries the shift from "confrontation" to" cooperation" by establishing bilateral relations that guarantee peace and co-existence and prevent the return to war that may lead to armed confrontations and may affect not only two states but the whole region.

At the economical level, the South is in dire need for cooperation with the North in respect of oil and at the same time the North also has interest in continued oil production in the North and the passage of that oil via its territory to Port Sudan. As long as the two sides have these vital common interest in that, they have to establish bridges of cooperation and coordination between them.

The South's utilization of its oil revenues is totally associated with the North because processing, refining and export of oil will take place via the North for years to come under the possibility that it may be exported via East Africa in a few years time after finalization of the pipeline for that region. But the economic feasibility of the latter proposition is doubtful as compared to oil reserve of the South.

The two sides also have interest in establishing cooperation ties in respect of movement of people of the two states and the flow of commodities and animals from one into the other. There are thousands of southerners who till now live and possess real estates and residences and receive educational opportunities and health services in the North as well as northerners who have the same situation in the south. And there are also those who have one of their parents from the south and the other from the north should be to be granted a dual citizenship.

What is required now is to look for the basis of complementation between the two entities on the light of the historical and geographical relations and the heritage of cooperation and common interests that complementation between the two sides can achieve. This complementation should involve all aspects of the economic, social, cultural and political life.