At midnight on July 9, 2011, celebrations erupted as the new nation was born and the people of South Sudan clapped and danced to mark the end of a long and bloody struggle for statehood.
But the optimism that ushered in its hard-fought independence from Sudan evaporated as the country's new leaders went to war in 2013.
The brutal conflict lasted five grinding years, costing 380,000 lives and displacing four million, shattering any illusions of a fresh start.
