JUBA — Dancing and singing, South Sudanese Monday put aside dire warnings over the stability and economic viability of their fledgling nation, the world’s newest, to celebrate its first year of independence.



Celebrations began at midnight as crowds took to the streets of the capital Juba, with people crammed into cars driving around the city and honking horns to mark the first anniversary since separating from former civil war foes Sudan.



“We have fought for our right to be counted among the community of the free nations and we have earned it,” South Sudanese President Salva Kiir told a crowd of several thousand, gathered in the baking sun for hours at a military parade.



Grossly impoverished South Sudan has spent the past year wracked by border wars with the rump state of Sudan, as well as internal violence and the shutdown of its vital oil production in a bitter dispute with Khartoum. — AFP