However, despite all of the celebration, the new nation has some heavy challenges ahead:South Sudan has become the world's newest nation, the climax of a process made possible by the 2005 peace deal that ended a long and bloody civil war.
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon are among international dignitaries attending celebrations in the capital, Juba.
Sudan earlier became the first state to officially recognise its new neighbour.
The south's independence follows decades of conflict with the north in which some 1.5 million people died.
Celebrations in Juba began at midnight (2100 GMT). A countdown clock in the city centre reached zero and the new national anthem was played on television.
South Sudan became the 193rd country recognised by the UN and the 54th UN member state in Africa.
The new country is rich in oil, but one of the least developed countries in the world, where one in seven children dies before the age of five.Still, independence rarely comes easily.
Unresolved disputes between the north and south, particularly over the new border, have also raised the possibility of renewed conflict.
Now, call me crazy, but this seems like the type of news that I should have seen on the teevee or heard on the radio -- not found haphazardly via a friend on Facebook.
Given our own nation's tumultuous start in 1776, followed by a bloody war for independence against our colonial parent country, I would think that the story of South Sudan might have gotten a bit more attention in American media.
Then again, this was no Casey Anthony trial.
[originally posted at The Donk]
