For thousands of southern Sudanese it was a night to stay out dancing to welcome the birth of their new nation. For people in the northern capital Khartoum it was a time of sadness mixed with defiance.
Congratulations have poured in from around the world as South Sudan celebrated its first day of independence from its northern neighbour and became the world's 193rd sovereign state.
South Sudan, where most follow Christian and traditional beliefs, became independent on Saturday after a January referendum agreed under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the Arab Muslim north.
While the south rejoiced at finally getting its freedom from the dominant north, for people in Khartoum the secession brought not only the loss of a third of the territory and much of the country's oil resources but also a profound feeling of sadness.
"I am happy for their independence, and I believe that it will benefit them, and their future," street artist Yaser Idriss said, sitting by a road near the Nile in the northern capital.
"At the same time however, I am sad at the fact that I feel like a part of me has been severed, contrary to my convictions," he said.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
An SPLA soldier stands in front of traditionally adorned Mundari women in Molujore, Central Equatoria State (soon to be part of South Sudan), February 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A child at a cattle camp in Bor, Jonglei State (soon to be part of South Sudan), May 2009. Cattle herders cover their bodies in ash from burned cow dung in order to protect themselves against tsetse flies, mosquitoes, and other insects that are omnipresent in the swampy area.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Young Jikany Nuer girls dance following an agreement over the bride price for one of their peers in Jikmer, Upper Nile State (soon to be part of South Sudan), October 2009.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A Misseriya woman thatches her dry-season shelter in Todaj, Abyei Area, January 2009. The semi-nomadic Misseriya move south from Southern Kordofan State into the fertile Abyei region -- an area disputed by the North and South and the site of recent fighting in anticipation of independence -- during the dry season to graze their cattle.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A young boy holds a toy AK-47 that he fashioned out of bamboo and mud in Nasser, Upper Nile State, October 2009.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A seasonal worker walks through fields of chili peppers in Gezira State, June 2010. The area between the Blue and White Nile rivers south of Khartoum is one of the largest irrigation projects in the world and the most productive agricultural region in Sudan.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Newly constructed oil company headquarters flank a mosque on the banks of the Blue Nile river in the capital of Khartoum, October 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Children learn the English alphabet at a makeshift school in Owiny-Kibul, Eastern Equatoria State (soon to be part of South Sudan), October 2007.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Station No. 4 on the Khartoum-Wadi Halfa train line in Northern State, October 2009. Sudan boasts one of the most extensive train networks in Africa with over 3,100 miles of track, but years of neglect have taken their toll on the aging infrastructure.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Train conductor's office at Station No. 4 on the Khartoum-Wadi Halfa rail line in Northern State, October 2009. The tracks in Sudan's railroad network were originally laid between 1895 and 1898 by Anglo-Egyptian forces as a military supply line during the colonial war against Muhammad Ahmad's Mahdist army.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A young girl watches SPLA soldiers parade in Obbo, Eastern Equatoria State, prior to their redeployment to Juba, October 2007.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
The family of an SPLA officer killed in battle mourns over his casket at the family homestead in Rumbek, Lakes State (soon to be part of South Sudan), September 2009.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Candles are placed around the tomb of John Garang during the celebration of Martyr's Day, which commemorates all those who lost their lives during Sudan's civil wars, in Juba, Central Equatoria State, July 2008. Garang, who had led the south Sudanese rebellion since the early 1980s, was killed in a helicopter crash in July 2005, three weeks after he was sworn in as vice president.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A rebel from the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), a Darfuri rebel group, lounges in front of two United Nations/African Union armored personnel carriers during a meeting between SLA commanders and peace envoys from the U.N. and the African Union in Umm Rai, Northern Darfur State, February 2007.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
An ostrich walks among Sufi worshippers during celebrations to mark the anointing of a sheikh in Umm Aidan, Sennar State, June 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A man walks through a haboob -- an intense sandstorm typical in Sudan and other arid regions -- in Kulbus, Western Darfur State, June 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
An elder from the northeastern Rashaida ethnic group sits in his home while his wife prepares coffee in Malamiye, Kassala State, June 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A fisherman brings his boat and nets to shore at dusk on Lake Nubia, Northern State, October 2009. Lake Nubia, known as Lake Nasser in Egypt, is the reservoir created by the Aswan High Dam that was completed in 1970.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), the feared rebel group that operates in southern Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Central African Republic, on the Sudan-DRC border in Western Equatoria State (soon to be part of South Sudan), April 2008.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
The remains of a rocket-propelled grenade lies in a civilian area of Malakal following deadly clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the SPLA, Upper Nile State, December 2006.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
The rural landscape of Gedaref State near El Galabat, June 2010.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
Young men play pool on the corniche in the shadow of the container terminal at Port Sudan, Sudan's primary port for international trade and the terminus of the pipeline from which Sudanese oil exports flow, Red Sea State, October 2009.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
A destroyed tank sits on the plains on the outskirts of Nasser, Upper Nile State, October 2009, a reminder that in Sudan, upheaval is always on the horizon.
Tim McKulka/UN Photo
While crackers and fireworks lighted the sky of Juba in the south, sorrow overwhelmed the streets of Khartoum, an image depicted emotions of a country looking back at its past and afraid of its future and another afraid of its past and anticipating a better future.
In Khartoum, viewpoints of the citizens regarding the separation of South Sudan varied, as some expressed sorrow over the division of their country while others expressed optimism over a better future after getting rid of the conflict which has exhausted their country.
In this respect, Omer Mohamed Al-Hassan Osman, a northern Sudanese citizen, told Xinhua that "I feel sorry for the separation of South Sudan. This is a natural matter, but the southerners are the ones who opted for separation. It was their will."
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