Cowboy capitalists short-change south Sudan's novice rulers
By Barney Jopson (Published: January 22 2008 02:00 -- © Financial Times)
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But as entrepreneurs repatriate their quick bucks, the town's [Juba's] economy is stagnating and the process of development has barely started.
The divide between the two does matter because it means south Sudan is not building what it needs: the foundations of a viable state...
Because of inexperience, corruption and the absence of any state apparatus - as well as the international community's decision to focus on Darfur - it has little to show for its efforts. Until three years ago Juba was a garrison town controlled by Khartoum and it remains little more than a super-sized village with barely 1km of paved road...
David Gressly, the deputy resident co-ordinator for the UN, says the town's cowboy capitalism must be tamed: "One of the key challenges ... is to put in place an investment code, together with clear laws on property rights that are enforced by the judiciary."
"Let me reassure you we know what's going on. We've decided to let them [the foreign traders] have a good time until we get the legal system in place," says Barri Wanji, chair of the south Sudan parliament's finance committee.
(link to view complete article © Financial Times)
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