When South Sudan\'s war began, the Beatles were playing their First hits and reaching the moon was an astronaut\'s dream.
He later ran AFP\'s East Africa bureau as its news editor.
About the Author Peter Martell has reported from South Sudan for more than a decade, including as the BBC correspondent in Juba for the three key years around independence.
First Raise a Flag is a moving reflection on the meaning of nationalism, the power of hope and the endurance of the human spirit.
Under his seasoned foreign correspondent\'s gaze, he weaves with passion and colour the lively history of the world\'s newest country.
Peter Martell has spent over a decade reporting from palaces and battlefields, meeting those who made a country like no other: warlords and spies, missionaries and mercenaries, guerrillas and gunrunners, freedom fighters and war crime fugitives, Hollywood stars and ex-slaves.
War returned, worse than ever. three years after independence, South Sudan was lowest ranked in the list of failed states.
First Raise a Flag details one of the most dramatic failures in the history of international state-building.
It is also the story of a nightmare.
This is the story of an epic fight for freedom.
Many have fought, but South Sudan did the impossible, and won.
It was an extraordinary, unprecedented experiment.
Half a century later, with millions massacred in Africa\'s Longest war, the continent\'s biggest country split in two.
When South Sudan\'s war began, the Beatles were playing their First hits and reaching the moon was an astronaut\'s dream