JUBA, South Sudan - Volunteers cleared away the rubbish and worshippers offered prayers for its future on Sunday, after South Sudan was feted by world leaders as it celebrated independence and began the tough task of nation building.

"It is a big, big job but we want to make our new capital look beautiful," said John Goi Deng, a youth mobilizer, as he looked out at the thousands of paper flags and plastic bottles that littered Juba's Freedom Square, the site of Saturday's ceremony.

A handful of teenagers collected the rubbish across the vast dirt field where foreign dignitaries and tens of thousands of southerners witnessed the declaration of independence and saw the new country's flag raised.

"This is the beginning of building the country. You first have to clean and then you can start to build," Deng said.

Celebrations erupted in South Sudan on Saturday as the world's newest nation proclaimed formal independence and turned the page on five decades of conflict with the north.

"Our martyrs did not die in vain ... We have waited for more than 56 years for this day. It is a day that will be forever engraved on our hearts and minds," President Salva Kiir told tens of thousands of jubilant southerners at the official ceremony in Juba.

South Sudan's national flag was then raised, to wild applause, tears and song.

"Our people fought for this day with our blood," 14-year-old Samuel Maniak was quoted as saying by Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper. "This is a great day for all of us."

Mary Muortat, one of hundreds of former refugees who spent years in exile after their parents were uprooted by the conflict, said citizens of the new nation were not daunted by the task ahead, according to the paper.

"After what we have been through we can no longer be shaken by anything. What others see as insurmountable challenges we view as tasks that are far easier than what we overcame in the past," she was quoted as saying.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, guest of honor at the ceremony, watched the parade.

In a conciliatory speech, Bashir repeated his wish to see the newborn nation succeed.

"We will fulfill our commitment to help the new state of South Sudan in its first steps, because we want it to succeed, and because its success will be our success," Bashir said.

He called on the international community and the European Union to fulfill their commitment to the Sudanese people, which they pledged when the 2005 north-south peace accord was signed.

"I'm also calling for US President Barack Obama to fulfill his commitment to remove sanctions from Sudan," he added.

World leaders on Saturday hailed the birth of the world's newest nation as a historic event.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, speaking at the official ceremony in Juba, said it was an important day for the UN, which has been engaged in promoting peace in Sudan for many years.

"Today we welcome the Republic of South Sudan to the community of nations. Together, we affirm our commitment to helping it meet its many responsibilities as a nation," said Ban.

South African President Jacob Zuma said Africans from the Cape to Cairo were proud of South Sudan's independence.

"We have always aspired to witness the dawn of peace, security and stability prevailing in the whole of the Sudan. That dream is coming to fruition," said Zuma.

Obama called it "another step forward in Africa's long journey toward opportunity, democracy and justice".

"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," Obama said in a statement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said an ambassador to Juba had already arrived to take up his post.

"This is a historic day, for South Sudan and the whole of Africa," he said, adding that Britain was proud to be "among the first to recognize South Sudanese independence".

Independence is a victory but not the total solution to the current crisis in the region and the people of South Sudan still face many challenges, said Pang Zhongying, professor of international relations at Renmin University of China.

"The birth of the nation is a victory of the will of the South Sudanese people," said Pang.

"But it is still far from full independence as the north and south need to cooperate in many fields in the future."

As an independent nation, South Sudan has to develop a new mode of cooperation and diplomatic ties with the north, and in some sectors including infrastructure construction the south still relies on the north, he said.

"Although South Sudan has rich oil and energy reserves, transportation infrastructure in the north is vital to the south."

Its internal politics, including the formation of a new government and power sharing between interest groups, also poses a challenge to the new nation, he added.

AFP-China Daily

(China Daily 07/11/2011 page11)