When South Sudan finally became independent after a 56-year struggle and a bitter secession from Sudan on July 9, 2011, it was a dream come true for many.
Roughly the size of the UK and Germany combined, the new country had its own passport, as well as football and basketball teams singing a national anthem under their own flag.
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South Sudanese rivals President Salva Kiir, right, and rebel leader Riek Machar, left, with Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, second left, during peace talks hosted by Sudan's former president Omar Al Bashir, second right, on June 25, 2018. Reuters -
A soldier of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, predecessor to the South Sudan People's Defence Forces, gestures as he sits in a vehicle in the capital Juba, on December 21, 2013. Reuters -
Families displaced by the civil war in South Sudan gather to be registered to receive food rations at a makeshift camp inside the UN Mission in Sudan's centre in Jabel, on the outskirts of Juba, on December 23, 2013. Reuters -
South Sudanese soldiers gather for a briefing at the army general headquarters in Juba, on January 8, 2014. Reuters -
Women displaced by the fighting in Bor county hug each other in the port in Minkaman, in Awerial county, Lakes state, South Sudan, on January 15, 2014. Reuters -
A displaced mother tends to her sick child at a UN hospital at Tomping camp, where some 15,000 displaced people who fled their homes are shelterednear South Sudan's capital Juba on January 7, 2014. Reuters -
A baby sleeps next to a woman at a Catholic church in Malakal, South Sudan, on January 21, 2014. Reuters -
A South Sudanese refugee uses his meal card to cover his face as he waits to be served porridge at Imvepi settlement in Arua district, northern Uganda, on April 4, 2017. Reuters
One of the most diverse nations in Africa, with more than 60 languages and dozens of ethnic groups, the creation of South Sudan was hailed as a way out of decades of strife.
But, 10 years after independence, visitors to the capital Juba will see a country suffering from underdevelopment and extreme poverty – the direct result of five years of civil war that stymied the transformation of the young country into a viable state.
On this week's Beyond the Headlines, Ahmed Maher travelled to South Sudan to see how the world's youngest country has fared during a decade of independence and investigate what the future holds for a nation brought to the brink by years of brutal conflict.
He sees the impact of a famine, a civil war and of corruption, and speaks to those leading the nation and promising a brighter future, as well as ordinary South Sudanese, to hear their reflections a decade after their country was finally born.
