Tag Archives: Study in South Sudan

Armistice quickly broken On January 23, a ceasefire agreement was signed in Addis Ababa, but there was strong doubt among outsiders that, above all, the undisciplined and not very coordinated rebel forces would respect the ceasefire. As feared, it did not take many days before reports of fighting came again. In February 2014, it was… Read More »

Nuer militias commit massacres Around SPLA-Nasir, loosely united militias from the lou nuer ethnic group, a branch of the Nuer people, went by the name of the White Army. It had been formed partly to defend the cattle of the present, and partly to fight against the Sudanese army. After the break-up between Garang and… Read More »

Conflicts in South Kurdufan and Blue Nile Following South Sudan’s independence in 2011, rebel movements became lively in the states of Southern Kurdufan and the Blue Nile along the new and partly disputed border between the two countries. The dominant guerrilla in the area was SPLM-N (see above) which during the civil war was active… Read More »

Hundreds of thousands killed In 2010, Milli Minnawi broke with the government and terminated the peace agreement from 2006. Instead, the government signed an agreement with LJM in 2011. In the same year, JEM, SLM-Nur and SLM-Minnawi merged with the SPLM-North rebel movement, a “branch” of the South Sudanese independence movement. Together they formed the… Read More »

Open war breaks out The conflict continued unabated, albeit at a low level, until 2003, when it took the form of open warfare between African guerrillas and government-backed Arab militias. Death toll rose dramatically and the Darfur conflict struck the world with horror. Initially, the government’s policy was to rule by dividing. Khartoum incited Arabs… Read More »

Immediately new conflicts The celebration of the new state had hardly abated before the unresolved issues led to new conflicts. South Sudan accused Sudan of stealing oil delivered from the south for shipment from Sudan and in February 2012 suspended all oil production pending a settlement. Despite the fact that the countries entered into a… Read More »

Controversial border area The Abyei border area is particularly controversial, as it has rich oil wells and valuable pasture. The conflict over Abyei was jeopardizing South Sudan’s independence at the last minute, but the parties managed to agree that a peacekeeping force of 4,200 Ethiopian troops would be stationed in the area and that negotiations… Read More »

Islamist dictatorship Sudan’s current president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, came to power through a military coup in 1989. However, the real ruler of the first decade after the coup was Islamist Hassan al-Turabi, who led the government’s support party, with roots in the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Sudan now became one of the world’s toughest dictatorships.… Read More »

Africa’s longest war, between northern and southern Sudan, lasted from 1955 to 2005 (with a shaky pause of eleven years) and claimed the lives of up to two million people. In 2011, the country was divided into Sudan and South Sudan after the South Sudanese voted to form an independent state. However, many disputes remain… Read More »