Introducing: South Sudan

A day marked by cheers, dancing, and chanting in the streets as thousands celebrate their hard-fought independence.

South Sudan formally declared its independence Saturday following a January referendum and a 2005 peace deal with the north. The new country’s president Salva Kiir took the oath of office as thousands rushed to the streets where excited crowds chanted “South Sudan o-yei, freedom o-yei.” Key diplomats and officials attended the independence ceremony, including Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who fought a long battle to keep the nation united. Bashir will now govern only the north, which just lost almost a third of its territory and about three quarters of its oil reserves. North Sudan's Khartoum government was the first to recognize the new state, but many fear that tensions will escalate as northern and southern leaders dispute the border line, oil revenues, and the contested Abyei region.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.