[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            REPUBLIC OF SOUTH SUDAN: WELCOMING A NEW NATION

  (Mr. CAPUANO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CAPUANO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw people's attention to 
one of the great, nice spots of what's happening in the world today. 
There aren't many. We're going to hear about every one of them this 
morning. But there's at least one happening right now in Africa. 
Tomorrow we will welcome the newest nation to the community of nations, 
South Sudan. This is a country that most of us probably never heard of. 
I certainly didn't until a few years ago, and I heard about it because 
of some of the atrocities that are happening there.
  South Sudan is a country that is born out of 20 years of internal 
civil war--20 years--not from outside forces like this country likes to 
do in Iraq and Afghanistan. They did it themselves on their own, and I 
just want to stand up here today and tell them congratulations, to 
welcome them into the community of nations, and to tell them that I, 
for one, and I believe this House, will stand with them as they 
struggle to make sure that their new democracy is successful.
  They have a lot of threats on every border. They have a lot of 
internal issues. They are an incredibly poor country with a lot of 
challenges. But as the greatest democracy in the history of the world, 
we have an obligation to stand with them as they build their new 
democracy.

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