South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.

• Full name: Republic of South Sudan
• Population: 7.5-9.7 million (UN estimate, 2006)
• Capital: Juba
• Area: 619,745 sq km (239,285 sq miles)
• Major languages: English, Arabic (both official), Juba Arabic, Dinka, others
• Major religions: Traditional religions, Christianity
• Life expectancy: N/A
• Monetary unit: Sudanese pound
• Main exports: Oil
• GNI per capita: N/A
• Internet domain: .ss
• International dialling code: +211

An overwhelming majority of South Sudanese voted in a January 2011 referendum to secede and become Africa’s first new country since Eritrea split from Ethiopia in 1993.

The new nation stands to benefit from inheriting the bulk of Sudan’s oil wealth, but continuing disputes with Khartoum and a lack of economic development cloud its immediate future.

Geography

The Sudd: One of the world’s largest wetlands

Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile.

It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest ethnic groups are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.

Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the South Sudanese follow traditional religions, while a minority are Christians.

History

As Sudan prepared to gain independence from joint British and Egyptian rule in 1956, southern leaders accused the new authorities in Khartoum of backing out of promises to create a federal system, and of trying to impose an Islamic and Arabic identity.

In 1955, southern army officers mutinied, sparking off a civil war between the south, led by the Anya Nya guerrilla movement, and the Sudanese government.

The yes vote in the 2011 referendum on independence sparked scenes of jubilation

The conflict only ended when the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972 accorded the south a measure of autonomy.

But, in 1983, the south, led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and its armed wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), again rose in rebellion when the Sudanese government cancelled the autonomy arrangements.

At least 1.5 million people are thought to have lost their lives and more than four million were displaced in the ensuing 22 years of guerrilla warfare. Large numbers of South Sudanese fled the fighting, either to the north or to neighbouring countries, where many remain.

The conflict finally ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, under which the south was granted regional autonomy along with guaranteed representation in a national power-sharing government.

The agreement also provided for a referendum in the south on independence in 2011, in which 99% of southern Sudanese voted to split from Sudan.

Economy

Most South Sudanese sustain themselves through agriculture

Long based on subsistence agriculture, South Sudan’s economy is now highly oil-dependent. While an estimated 75% of all the former Sudan’s oil reserves are in South Sudan, the refineries and the pipeline to the Red Sea are in Sudan.

Under the 2005 accord, South Sudan received 50% of Sudan’s oil proceeds, which provide the vast bulk of the country’s budget. But that arrangement was set to expire with independence.

Despite the oil wealth, South Sudan is one of Africa’s least developed countries. However, the years since the 2005 peace accord ushered in an economic revival and investment in utilities and other infrastructure.

Conflicts

Alongside the oil issue, several border disputes with Sudan continue to strain ties. The main row is over border region of Abyei, where a referendum for the residents to decide whether to join south or north has been delayed over voter eligibility.

The conflict is rooted in a dispute over land between farmers of the pro-South Sudan Dinka Ngok people and cattle-herding Misseriya Arab tribesmen.

Another source of conflict is the Nuba Mountains region of Sudan’s South Kordofan state, where violence continues between the largely Christian and pro-SPLA Nuba people and northern government forces.

Inside South Sudan, several rebel forces opposed to the SPLM-dominated government have appeared, including the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA) of Peter Gadet and a force led former SPLA general George Athor. Juba says these forces are funded by Sudan, which denies the accusation.

President: Salva Kiir Mayardiit

Salva Kiir has led the SPLM since 2005

Salva Kiir Mayardit became president of South Sudan – then still part of Sudan – and head of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in 2005, succeeding long-time rebel leader John Garang, who died in a helicopter crash.

Mr Kiir was re-elected as president in multiparty polls in the south in April 2010.

Prior to independence, he was also vice-president of Sudan, under the power-sharing arrangements put in place in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

Having fought in the south’s first civil war in the 1960s, Mr Kiir joined the Sudanese army after the 1972 peace agreement. He defected to the rebels again on the resumption of fighting in 1983, later emerging as the SPLM’s military leader.

Born in 1951 in Bahr al-Ghazal state, he is a Christian and – like his, predecessor John Garang – a member of the Dinka, the largest ethnic group in South Sudan.

Widely thought to lack Mr Garang’s charisma, Mr Kiir has a reputation for intelligence, integrity and being able to reconcile ethnic or political opponents.

Media
South Sudanese get most of their news through radio

South Sudan’s fledgling media face immense logistical, economic, social and political challenges.

News gathering can be problematic and the communications infrastructure is poor.

Radio is the most popular medium, and scores of private stations, some with foreign funding, have sprung up.

The Catholic Church and Internews, a US-based media development organisation, are key radio players. The BBC World Service broadcasts to Juba on 90 FM (Arabic) and 88.2 FM (English).

Though expensive for many locals, newspapers rank second to radio in popularity. Most of the titles circulating in South Sudan publish in English. There is a terrestrial TV station – government-operated Southern Sudan TV.

Media infrastructure is still being built up

Media freedom is fragile, with the existence of armed groups, weak legal institutions and political pressures undermining free reporting. Journalists risk arrest over reports that criticise the government and the ruling party.

There have been reported seizures of newspapers, or disruption of their distribution, by the authorities.

Web access is limited to the main towns. Diaspora members tend to be the most active social network users.

A chronology of key events

1899-1955 – South Sudan is part of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, under joint British-Egyptian rule.

1956 – Sudan gains independence from joint British-Egyptian rule.

First civil war

Rebel leader John Garang, who fought more than 20 years for independence, died in 2005

1962 – Civil war led by the southern seperatist Anya Nya movement begins with north.

1969 – Group of socialist and communist Sudanese military officers led by Col Jaafar Muhammad Numeiri seizes power; Col Numeiri outlines policy of autonomy for south.

1972 – Government of Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri concedes a measure of autonomy for southern Sudan in a peace agreement signed in Addis Ababa.

1978 – Oil discovered in Unity State in southern Sudan.

Second civil war

1983 – Fighting breaks out again between north and south Sudan, under leadership of John Garang’s Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), after Sudanese President Jaafar Numeiri abolishes South Sudan’s autonomy.

1988 – Democratic Unionist Party – part of Sudan’s ruling coalition government – drafts cease-fire agreement with the SPLM, but it is not implemented.

1989 – Military seizes power in Sudan.

• The second Sudanese civil war lasted from 1983-2005

1993 – Revolution Command Council dissolved after Omar Bashir is appointed president of Sudan.

2001 – Sudanese Islamist leader Hassan Al-Turabi’s party, the Popular National Congress, signs memorandum of understanding with the southern rebel SPLM’s armed wing, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Mr Al-Turabi is arrested the next day.

Sudanese government accepts Libyan-Egyptian initiative to end the Sudanese civil war after failure of peace talks between SPLM leader John Garang and President Omar Bashir in Nairobi.

2002 – SPLA and Sudanese sign agreement on six-month renewable cease-fire in central Nuba Mountains – a key rebel stronghold.

Talks in Kenya lead to a breakthrough agreement between southern rebels and Sudanese government on ending the civil war. The Machakos Protocol provides for the south to seek self-determination after six years.

North-south peace deal

2005 January – North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ends civil war; deal provides for a permanent ceasefire, autonomy for the south, a power-sharing government involving rebels in Khartoum and a south Sudanese referendum on independence in six years’ time.

Abyei has been the focus of a smouldering dispute with Sudan

2005 July – Former southern rebel leader John Garang is sworn in as first vice-president. A new Sudanese constitution which gives the south a large degree of autonomy is signed.

2005 August – South Sudanese leader John Garang is killed in a plane crash. He is succeeded by Salva Kiir Mayardiit. Mr Garang’s death sparks deadly clashes in the capital between southern Sudanese and northern Arabs.

2005September – Power-sharing government is formed in Khartoum.

2005 October – Autonomous government is formed in South Sudan, in line with the January 2005 peace deal. The administration is dominated by former rebels.

Fragile peace

2006 November – Hundreds die in fighting centred on the southern town of Malakal – the heaviest between northern Sudanese forces and former rebels since the 2005 peace deal.

2007 October – SPLM temporarily suspends participation in national unity government, accusing Khartoum of failing to honour the 2005 peace deal.

2007 December – SPLM resumes participation in national unity government.

2008 March – Tensions rise over clashes between an Arab militia and SPLM in the disputed Abyei area on the north-south divide – a key sticking point in the 2005 peace accord.

Tension over Abyei

2008 May – Dominic Dim Deng, defence minister in southern Sudan’s autonomous government, is killed in a plane crash.

Independence was backed by 99% of South Sudanese in the 2011 referendum

Intense fighting breaks out between northern and southern forces in disputed oil-rich town of Abyei.

2008 June – Southern Sudanese leader Salva Kiir and Sudanese President Omar Bashir agree to seek international arbitration to resolve dispute over Abyei.

2008 October – Allegations that Ukrainian tanks hijacked off the coast of Somalia were bound for southern Sudan spark fears of an arms race between the North and former rebels in the South.

2009 June – Khartoum government denies it is supplying arms to ethnic groups in the south to destabilise the region.

South Sudanese leader Salva Kiir warns his forces are being re-organised to be ready for any return to war with the north.

Ex-foreign minister Lam Akol splits from South’s ruling SPLM to form new party, SPLM-Democratic Change.

2009 July – North and south Sudan say they accept ruling by arbitration court in The Hague shrinking disputed Abyei region and placing the major Heglig oil field in the north.

Independence referendum

2009 December – Leaders of North and South reach deal on terms of referendum on independence due in South by 2011.

Numerous rebellions have arisen in the run-up to South Sudan’s independence

2010 January – President Omar Bashir says he would accept referendum result, even if South opted for independence.

2011 January – The people of South Sudan vote in favour of full independence from Sudan.

2011 February – Clashes between the security forces and rebels in southern Sudan’s Jonglei state leave more than 100 dead.

Fighting breaks out near Abyei.

2011 March – Government of South Sudan says it is suspending talks with the North, accusing it of plotting a coup.

2011 May – North occupies disputed border region of Abyei.

2011 June – Governments of north and south Sudan sign accord to demilitarize the disputed Abyei region and let in an Ethiopian peacekeeping force.

2011 9 July – Independence day

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14069082

How will southern independence affect Sudan?

By James Copnall BBC News, Khartoum

Southern Sudan’s independence will create in effect not one but two new states.

The new-born Republic of South Sudan will face many challenges – but Sudan will be in an equally vulnerable position.

Khartoum will have to cope without the south’s oil reserves, and deal with continuing fighting in Darfur, as well as fresh conflicts in Southern Kordofan and perhaps elsewhere.

More than that, Sudan’s identity is being hotly debated – and a worried outside world is watching.

Southern secession will strike a blow to the pride of people who until now have delighted in extolling “Africa’s biggest country” – and to President Omar al-Bashir, who will preside over the schism.

His officials, like National Congress Party spokesman Ibrahim Ghandour, insist the head of state’s stature has grown since he brought an end to the north-south civil war.

Lost oil wealth

Mr Ghandour believes South Sudan represents Khartoum’s greatest headache, and tense relations with the former subjects seem inevitable.

But he does accept Sudan is in for a difficult time – even if he denies that his party is to blame.

“In Sudan there are problems but it is partially created by foreign interventions, and some of our countrymen are getting involved in conflicts because they are interested in power,” he says.

Nevertheless the uppercut to the country’s economy is undoubtedly of great concern.

In the past decade or so, Khartoum has undergone an oil-fuelled building boom, but about three-quarters of the oil is in the south.

Under the terms of a 2005 peace deal, Khartoum and Juba have been sharing the income from the southern oil equally.

Northern economists calculate they will now face a 36% gap in their budget.

Some of that will be replaced when a deal is signed specifying how much South Sudan will pay for using the north’s pipelines, refineries and export terminal.

Mr Ghandour and other northern officials hope a renewed focus on agriculture and increased revenues from mining, and in particular gold, can make up the rest.

But with southern independence imminent, the Sudanese pound is already slipping against the dollar, foreign currency reserves are depleted – and all this is being felt in local food markets, where prices are rising.

‘Food basket’

“Two months ago everything was cheap, now there is a great increase. Meat used to be 12 pounds [about $4.50, £3], now it is 20, and sugar has doubled,” says Mohamed, doing his shopping in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city just across the River Nile.

“We are complaining about these high prices.”

That raises a familiar spectre of the depleted banquet – the sort of demonstrations that have twice brought down Sudanese heads of state.

“This is typical of what happened in October 1964 and April 1985,” says Haj Hamad, an economist who runs the Social and Human Development Consultative Group.

“You touch the untouchable which is the food basket, and usually in Sudan you have housewives banging pots in the middle of the night, when the security is sleeping, then you will have a government change.”

Sudanese officials rubbish such claims, saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

But there has to be some concern, particularly if new oil isn’t found to complement the limited existing northern reserves, or world prices tumble.

Sudan will try to have its colossal debt – about $39bn (£24bn) – written off, and get US sanctions removed.

But this depends on Khartoum’s difficult current relationship with the West improving dramatically.

That will only happen if Khartoum changes the way it deals with areas of the north that reject its policies.

“We need to ask: ‘How is the north going to be ruled,”’ Yassir Arman, the secretary general of SPLM-North, the northern wing of the rebels which gained the south’s independence, told the BBC.

“This is how we can avoid the experience of the past.”

Deal in Darfur?

South Kordofan is the latest part of a vast country to descend into violence.

Clashes between the Nuba people, who largely support SPLM-North, and the Sudanese armed forces have been going on for a month.

Church groups have talked of “ethnic cleansing” of the Nuba, and US President Barack Obama has expressed his concern at the reports of attacks based on ethnicity.

SPLM-North leader Malik Agar has warned that fighting in South Kordofan could spread to his area, Blue Nile state, and elsewhere.

That’s not all.

The civil war in Darfur, which broke out in 2003, is still not resolved.

The government hopes to sign a deal with one rebel force, the Liberty and Justice Movement, sometime in July.

But the LJM is not strong militarily.

The rebels who count on the ground, forces lead by Abdel Wahid Mohamed el-Nur, Minni Minnawi and Khalil Ibrahim, are either not negotiating or are unlikely to sign the agreement.

Fighting flares up periodically, and vast areas of the remote region are extremely dangerous.

Most experts believe there will never be a solution to Darfur’s problems until underlying issues of development and power relations are resolved.

President Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged genocide committed in Darfur, which means the Western world ostracises him.

The president, who has been in office since taking power in a coup in 1989, has said he will step down before the next elections, but not everyone is convinced.

For the moment, he has already signalled his intention to move back to a pure form of Sharia or Islamic law.

In the 1990s Khartoum hosted Osama Bin Laden, and a return to radicalism is the great fear of the West – and that of many Sudanese.

“They are trying to move back to a more radical way, but they won’t be able to do it,” says Hafiz Mohamed of Justice Africa, a campaigning group.

“They are in a weaker position. In the 1990s they were able to rally people behind jihadism, but people are tired of war.”

All the same, an external threat – whether it is northern rebels, the old foes in South Sudan, foreign intervention, or “enemies of Islam” – could well be used to unite Sudan during what will be a very tough period.

But ultimately the lessons of South Sudan and Darfur are likely to hold true, whoever is in power.

If large areas of the country continue to feel marginalised, Sudan will never be at peace.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14019051

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