Discussions are ongoing inside South Sudan about building an oil pipeline through Kenya to the port of Lamu to better exploit the country's most important natural resource. But roads would be a better option

The problems facing the new nation are the product of non-existent or underdeveloped state institutions, themselves the product of the current system’s failure to redefine itself from a liberation movement to a ruling party with a mandate to deliver services to the population.

Lack of unity is South Sudan’s most profound crisis, one that underlies the country’s economic and political woes. It will take a long time and sustained efforts to build one nation with common values.