On the wall in the home office of Salva Kiir, the president of Southern Sudan, hang two oversize portraits—one of Jesus Christ and the other of himself. On his desk, between a pair of hippo bookends, Kiir has placed a copy of the Devotional Study Bible next to an edition of Robert Greene’s self-help book, The 48 Laws of Power. A former guerrilla in a rebel army called Anya-Nya (“Snake Venom”), Kiir now heads Southern Sudan’s autonomous government, which wrested a measure of independence from Khartoum five years ago. His regime has long been a darling of Western donors. During the Bush years, especially, Kiir’s blend of defiant nationalism and Christian piety resonated among hardline Washington ideologues seeking to reshape the Sudanese balance of power. Even in the more sober Obama era, the U.S. has been pouring more than $300 million annually into Southern Sudan—part of a vigorous effort to bolster Kiir’s government before a referendum on full independence from the predominantly Muslim north scheduled for early next year.
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