South Sudan - The new state in Africa
The people of the south of Sudan voted from January 9th to January 15th 2011
in a referendum on its independence. Until then, South Sudan was part of Sudan,
the largest African state at the time. Ever since Sudan's independence in 1956,
there have been repeated rebellions in the southern provinces that have been
directed against the Arabizing-Islamizing policies of the governments in the
capital Khartoum. In 1983 a civil war began in which approximately 2 million
Sudanese lost their lives and 4.5 million were displaced. From 2006 to the
independence elections, the American actor George Clooney was seven times in the
country and had recently done a lot to ensure that the election went correctly
and that there were no new armed conflicts.

Independence from Sudan was finally achieved on July 9, 2011. On July 14,
2011, South Sudan became the 193rd member state of the United Nations. On July
27, 2011, the new state was admitted to the African Union - as the 54th member.
The young state is struggling with serious social problems and is one of the
poorest developing countries in Africa. Life expectancy is very low and social
security and adequate medical care are largely unknown. Between 20 and 35% of
the population are malnourished; and around 90% are illiterate. This situation
results from the long war which also weakened the agricultural potency. A
positive aspect is the fact that South Sudan has mineral resources - first and
foremost oil; the income from this could be enough to fight poverty in the
country, since South Sudan has owned around 80% of the known oil reserves of all
of Sudan since independence. The lack of access to the sea, however, makes the
young country dependent on oil exports via North Sudan.
But serious ethnic conflicts also make the country a new trouble spot. For
example, at the end of 2011 in early 2012 there was a massacre with around 3,000
dead, when armed supporters of the Lou Nuer cattle herders shot around 2,100
women and children and 900 men of the Murle people.
Despite the cultural and historical wealth of South Sudan, only one region
has made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage List, probably due to the country's
political situation: These are the "holy mountain" Barkal and the archaeological
sites of the Napa region. You can see the remains of a temple dedicated to the
Egyptian god Amun, a palace and pyramids.
From mid-December 2013 there were serious clashes between the Nuer and Dinka
ethnic groups, with well over 1,000 dead.
Name of the country |
Republic of South Sudan (RoSS)
Short form: South Sudan (German South Sudan) |
Form of government |
republic |
Government system |
Presidential system of government |
Geographical location |
South Sudan is surrounded by Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic. |
Independence |
Due to the referendum from January 9th to 15th, 2011
, South Sudan became independent on July 9th, 2011. Since then it has
been a sovereign state. |
National anthem |
South Sudan Oyee! |
Population |
approximately 12.9 million (Credit:
Countryaah:
South Sudan Population) |
Ethnicities |
Va Dinka, Nuer and Schilluk and Azande |
Religions |
Christians and Animists |
Languages |
English is the official language.
In addition, numerous African languages and Sudan Arabic are spoken in
the country. |
Capital |
Juba |
Surface |
619,745 km² |
Highest mountain |
Kinyeti with a height of 3,178 m |
Longest river |
White Nile |
International license plate |
SSD |
National currency |
South Sudanese pou |
Time difference to CET |
+ 1h |
International phone code |
00211 |
Mains voltage, frequency |
240 volts and 50 hertz |
Internet TDL (Top Level Domain) |
.sd (applied for: ss) |
South Sudan: history
From the Civil War to the founding of South Sudan
When one speaks of the civil war in South Sudan, one means the armed struggle
of the South Sudanese for the independence of the Christian south from the
Islamic north. These efforts to detach themselves resulted in two bloody civil
wars (1955-1972 and 1983-2005) and finally ended in 2005 with the partial
autonomy of South Sudan.
According to
Abbreviationfinder website, the reasons which led to the struggle between North and South were
manifold. On the one hand, they are historical and ethnic; On the other hand, it
is also economical, because the south of Sudan has important natural resources
such as oil.
Both regions - that is, North and South Sudan - are also not an entity that
has grown together, but an arbitrary determination of the colonial rulers who
drew borders where there were actually only disparities. If the population of
North Sudan consists of Muslims and fair-skinned people influenced by Arabs, the
south is mainly composed of Christian and/or animist black African
peoples. Historically, the classification of the northern Sudanese as superior
to the southern black Africans was shown when slave traders from the north
hunted slaves in the south.

The British colonial rulers therefore administered North and South Sudan
separately from one another. When the decolonization of Sudan was carried out,
the freedom was not given to South Sudan as a separate area - as originally
planned - but it was added to the north at the Juba Conference (1947). The
establishment of the North Sudanese administration, including police and
military, brought about the first serious conflicts with the South Sudanese
tribes. Due to the lack of power from the South, there were more and more
protests, which finally evolved into open civil war with Sudan's independence in
1956. While this war brought autonomy to the south, it had cost the lives of up
to 700,000 people.
At the beginning of the 1980s, northern Sudan began to intervene increasingly
in the autonomy, because oil deposits had been discovered in Bentiu in southern
Sudan, in which the north was very interested. Among other reasons, however, the
forced Islamization by President Numairi was one of the most important reasons
for war on the part of the South. The answer was the founding of the SPLM
(Sudanese People Liberation Movement), whose armed arm, the SPLA (Sudanese
People Liberation Army), was led by Colonel John Garang. After 22 years of civil
war, a peace agreement was finally signed between the government and the SPLA in
2005, which guaranteed the south its autonomy. It was also decided that a vote
on the independence of South Sudan should take place in January 2011.
The civil wars have cost more than 2,000,000 lives; Around 4,000,000 South
Sudanese have been displaced and are now mostly returning to the South, which
will not (yet) be able to feed them, because the infrastructure is on the ground
and the food situation is catastrophic. And in some cases the armed conflicts
continue. In May 2008, for example, fighting broke out in the oil-rich Abyei
district, which is among the worst since the peace treaty.
Between January 9 and 15, 2011, there was actually a referendum in which 99%
of the South Sudanese who voted in favor of independence from North Sudan. Since
February 14, 2011, the name of the new and therefore youngest African state has
also been pronounced: South Sudan.
Transitional period and independence
After a remarkably short transition period, South Sudan's independence was
officially declared and implemented on July 9, 2011. In the months between the
referendum and the sovereignty of the new state, all institutions of both parts
of the country were separated from one another step by step. South Sudanese
officials were transferred to the south, northern Sudanese officials to the
north, and in February the representatives of the south of North Sudan were
dismissed from the National Assembly. South Sudan's capital, Juba, has had an
embassy for (North) Sudan since March.
Unfortunately, in May 2011, fighting broke out again in the Abyei area. The
result was, among other things, the capture of the city of Abyei by the soldiers
of (Northern) Sudan. Thanks to the mediating help from South Africa, both
conflict parties were able to agree on the establishment of a demilitarized zone
in the border region.
On July 14, 2011, South Sudan became the 193rd member state of the United
Nations. On July 27, 2011, the new state was admitted to the African Union - as
the 54th member.
At the end of 2011 in early 2012 there was a massacre with around 3,000 dead,
when armed supporters of the Lou Nuer cattle herders shot around 2,100 women and
children and 900 men of the Murle people.
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