South Sudanese official's August visit to Omaha creates excitement - Omaha World-Herald

With the Republic of South Sudan about to celebrate its first anniversary of independence, a group in Omaha is celebrating news that the new nation's vice president has accepted an invitation to visit Nebraska.

Vice President Riek Machar will visit Omaha on Aug. 25, said Buey Ray Tut, co-founder of the Omaha-based southern Sudanese organization called Aqua-Africa Inc.

Machar is expected to speak from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Embassy Suites in La Vista, Tut said.

“We're excited, because we've been seeking this man for a long time,” said Tut, who came to Omaha as a child refugee with his family after they fled from civil war in Sudan.

Tut graduated from the University of Nebraska at Omaha and worked for the Boy Scouts before co-founding the nonprofit Aqua-Africa with Jacob Kohl, a childhood friend from southern Sudan.

“And Omaha has been very supportive of Sudanese people,” Tut said.

Tut said he met Machar in southern Sudan and in Minnesota. “We pleaded and pleaded and pleaded with him to come to Omaha.”

Buey Ray Tut

Omaha has one of the largest Sudanese populations in the United States. It was one of eight U.S. cities where expatriates voted in 2011 in a referendum to decide whether southern Sudan should separate from Sudan and become an independent nation.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of forming a separate nation. On July 9, the Republic of South Sudan was born after decades of civil war and millions of deaths.

South Sudan's first year as an independent nation has been rocky. Violent border disputes with Sudan continue, displacing thousands of people into refugee camps with alarming conditions. It remains one of the world's poorest nations.

South Sudan has shut down the production of oil, the source of 98 percent of the nation's revenue, because of a dispute with Sudan over its exorbitant oil transit fees.

Machar will speak in Omaha about his nation's challenges and opportunities, Tut said.

He hopes the visit will help draw attention to Aqua-Africa, which builds water wells in South Sudan, and will build awareness and make connections that will lead to more investment in South Sudan.

“South Sudan has three big needs: energy, agriculture and infrastructure,” and Omaha is home to major companies involved in those areas, Tut said.

“We need the international community more than ever,” he said.

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