From Voice of America, February 12, 2011:
Work crews have started paving Southern Sudan’s first highway, which will connect the new nation to the international community. This highway brings the south one step closer to full independence.
A military band welcomed Southern Sudan’s president, Salva Kiir, the American consul general in the south, Barrie Walkley, and local officials to a remote stretch of road near the Sudan-Uganda border.
This is the southern end of a 192 kilometer, heavily mined, potholed dirt road that a United States-funded project started work on five years ago. On Thursday, the first stretch of pavement was laid down on what will soon be the south’s first paved highway, linking the southern capital, Juba, to the world outside the new nation’s borders.
Kiir was the guest of honor during the ceremony.
“It is development that we need and development starts with these roads,” said Kiir.