Baobab

AFTER weeks of good news from South Sudan, where a peaceful referendum last month paved the way for independence in July, reports from Juba suggest that Jimmy Lemi Milla, minister for co-operatives and rural development, has been shot in his office. This is unlikely to be the start of a sustained campaign of violence or an attack on secessionist leaders more generally. But it does make clear how far South Sudan is still from having a fully functioning state. Security is amazingly lax in the soon-to-be-capital. A gate that leads on to the airport runway is often left open and entire private convoys drive up to planes. Passenger screening is little better. In town, anyone can walk into the parliament building or into ministers' offices. Among officials, only Salva Kiir, the president, is properly protected. Foreign embassy offices and aid agencies are too, having built little fortresses for themselves surrounded by razor-wire topped walls. Given the violent nature of Sudanese politics in recent decades that seems more than justified. Security firms do brisk business, just not in government offices.