There are two ways in which a tethered domesticated bull can untangle itself: either its shepherd unties it or it muscles its way out of a leash. The world's newest nation is a captive bull that everybody agrees must escape bondage but disagrees on the optimal approach.

Imagine a child, born, eyeless; earless and mouth-less. Imagine if the baby was a country, so precious, so new, and millions of its people died for its birth. Welcome to South Sudan, a country where freedom fever is frying as an idea at the core of its founding, freedom of speech, comes under fire.

A removal of an elected governor in a presidential decree has rekindled a long forgotten fight over a contested clause in South Sudan's current interim constitution.

This war could have been avoided had the international community and the sponsors of the CPA, including the UK, looked for real, comprehensive solutions - not an easy way out of war. Instead, the CPA divided the country instead of equally distributing power and resources.

Children have lost their families and have been displaced and exploited as soldiers. They've lost their hopes for a better future. Women were raped and tortured and saw their own children and husbands slaughtered. People were starved to death while escaping war. A whole nation has been deformed by the sins of war.

The world's newest nation has lived to see its first birthday! This is a big deal for a country that was written-off at birth by analysts and observers, just a year ago.

I choose peace in the Nuba Mountains because I don't want to see families living in caves; I want Nubas to live in dignified conditions. And because I choose peace, I choose to revolt. I choose to join thousands of protestors demanding change in Sudan because only regime-change will bring peace to Sudan.

We - Sudan and South Sudan - shall remember that we've both suffered oppression and lived through woes, and that we are the survivors of the longest war in Africa. I see our separation as an opportunity for the new South Sudanese generations to determine their own destiny without being pulled back by war and chains of extremist dictatorships

Despite a year of challenges and conflict, I am optimistic that the youth will lead the way to a better future for both of the Sudans.

Let's hope the leaders of newly independent South Sudan take a look at nearby Eritrea, the last African state to be born. There are some striking parallels.

PRESS ASSOCIATION -- South Sudan has raised the flag of its new nation for the first time, as thousands of South Sudanese citizens and dozens of inter...