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Text: Xia and Lot
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introduction
South Sudan is the youngest country in the world and was blessed with great hopes and dreams when it became independent in 2011.
However, since the beginning of independence, South Sudan has been immersed in endless civil war and poverty, and today, 13 years after independence, it remains the poorest country in the world, with two-thirds of its population displaced.
Conflicts with the outside pushed it to independence, but it was greeted not by a bright future, but by endless political turmoil and conflict.
(People of South Sudan)
1. The discord between North and South Sudan began to accumulate during the colonial period
Before the 2011 referendum on independence, South Sudan was part of Sudan. However, due to its complex historical background, differences and contradictions between Sudan and North Sudan have persisted since Sudan's independence in 1956, and this contradiction can be said to be all-encompassing.
In southern and northern Sudan, the first and most obvious differences are religious and cultural. This difference also has a profound impact on the political and social life of the two regions.
The predominant ethnic group in northern Sudan is the Arabs, mostly Muslim. Influenced by Egyptian culture, Islamic societies were formed in the north, and Sharia law and customs permeate all aspects of politics, law, and culture. Government laws and institutions are also largely in line with Islamic principles.
(Catholic Church in South Sudan)
However, under the influence of British colonial policies for many years, Christianity became the dominant religion in southern Sudan, along with some of the original religions in the region. The people of the South, on the other hand, are mostly black, and it is difficult to communicate with the people of the North, whether because of the tragic memories of enslavement during the colonial period, or because of religious and language barriers.
Cultural and religious differences between the North and the South have led to mutual disagreement, and marginalized people in the South have risen up in the fight for freedom. In 1972, Southern Sudan gained autonomous status through the Addis Beyaba Agreement, but it still had no economic voice.
(Map of South Sudan)
The discovery of oil resources has re-intensified the contradictions between the North and the South that have temporarily eased. The Sudan has explored for new recoverable oil in the south or on the north-south border. At this time, the power of the state was tilted towards the north, but 70% of the oil resources on which the country depended were concentrated in the south.
In order to maximize the extraction of oil wealth, the North has taken measures to set up factories and transportation pipelines in the north and to exclude the southern forces from the oil management agencies around the development and transportation of oil resources. These actions undoubtedly made the south very angry.
(Sudanese Army soldiers)
2. Successful independence, but immediately plunged into a civil war and humanitarian crisis
The civil war lasted from the 1980s to the 2000s, and there were many rounds of negotiations between the North and the South that failed to come to an end. With the intervention of the international community, the two sides signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, and the South had the opportunity to vote on independence.
In 2011, South Sudan held a historic referendum in which 98.83% of voters supported independence, and the President of Sudan also said that he recognized the final result of the South Sudan referendum. Thus, the Republic of South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, was born.
But South Sudan's independence is not about a peaceful future, but about the war that will continue.
(Celebrating the independence of the people of South Sudan)
After independence, internal contradictions in South Sudan resurfaced. The main tribes and ethnic groups of the country, having lost their foreign enemy in the north, have refocused their attention on conflict with each other.
On the basis of the ethnic conflict, the political conflict between Kiir, the president of the Dinka nation, and Martial, the vice-president of the Nuka, also continued.
After independence, Kiel and Martial were already at odds over appointments to political office, the party constitution, and so on.
In July 2013, in an effort to maintain his power in the run-up to the 2015 general election, President Kiir dismissed Vice President Anthony Martial and other related figures, excluding all those who disagreed with him.
In December, it was announced that the party would be dissolved and many politicians were dismissed. Vice President Anthony Martial, presidential advisers, and other dismissed officials joined forces to publicly denounce Kiir and refuse to participate in that year's SPLM National Legislative Convention.
(President Kiir at the President's Office in the capital, Juba)
On December 15, a shootout broke out in the capital between opposing factions of South Sudan's presidential guards. Kiir publicly condemned Martial's military coup and arrested several coup plotters. After Martial took advantage of the chaos to escape, he regrouped his army against Kiel, and civil war officially began.
Despite repeated efforts by the international community to mediate between government forces and rebel forces, and several ceasefire agreements have been signed, the standoff between the armed forces in South Sudan continued into 2022.
After years of civil war, the fighting has spread throughout the country, severely disrupting the normal life of the people of South Sudan, who have lost their income because they are unable to work. The inconvenience of transportation caused by the war led to an increase in the price of goods due to scarcity. It's like a vicious circle that keeps the Sudanese people trapped in a spiral of poverty.
(South Sudanese women and children who have become refugees as a result of the conflict)
Civilians have had to take refuge in refugee camps because the armed forces have shot at civilians and have carried out widespread looting and violence during the conflict, regardless of whether they are soldiers or civilians. In 2023, about 76% of South Sudan's population is still in need of humanitarian assistance, including women who face sexual violence and children who are displaced and who have difficulty accessing regular schooling.
Third, the development of the oil economy is subject to internal and external constraints, and it is difficult for South Sudan to break the situation
Years of civil war have not only led to the displacement of people, but have also severely affected the country's economic development.
South Sudan's economic development is heavily dependent on the oil economy. Relying on abundant oil resources, South Sudan has achieved tremendous economic development since its independence in 2011, and the positive situation has also stimulated the development potential of domestic agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries.
(Children from South Sudan)
But it only lasted two years, and with the outbreak of civil war in late 2013, the oil economy came to a serious standstill. In order to compete for vital oil resources, the armies of both sides of the civil war fought fiercely in cities with oil infrastructure, which led to severe damage to oil development facilities.
The hail of bullets also threatened the lives of oil workers, who evacuated one after another, paralyzing oil production once again. In 2014, South Sudan's oil revenues were $3.4 billion, and after paying transit fees for oil shipments to Sudan and repaying loans, the remaining revenues were only about $1.7 billion.
(Oil workers in South Sudan)
The sharp drop in oil revenues has also led to a severe shortage of foreign exchange in South Sudan, with inflation rising sharply, and a rapidly deteriorating economic environment that has led to more unemployment and a cycle of poverty in the country.
In addition to the impact of the country's civil war, South Sudan's oil economy has also been affected by neighboring Sudan.
As a landlocked country, South Sudan must transport the oil it produces to the port via pipelines for smooth exports. And the transport pipeline needs to pass through Sudan. As a result, South Sudan's oil revenues also include a portion of the payment to Sudan for transportation costs.
However, the situation in Sudan is also very precarious, and like South Sudan, it is in the crisis of civil war. In February 2024, a major oil pipeline in South Sudan was damaged by the Sudanese civil war, as it passed through Sudan. The pipeline can account for up to three-quarters of South Sudan's oil revenues, so the impact on South Sudan is significant.
(Offshore Oil Rigs)
Until 2024, armed violence will continue to occur in some parts of South Sudan. In 2023, it also remains ranked as the world's poorest country by the Forbes Report.
Although the international community has been working hard to provide humanitarian relief to South Sudanese refugees, China and other major countries are also cooperating with South Sudan in various economic aspects. But the future of the youngest country remains worrisome.
Bibliography:
Forbes reports that South Sudan is the poorest country in the world. Economic and Commercial Section of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Sudan .2023-08-21
Civil conflict: Displacement of civilians due to violence and plunder. The Paper, 2023-04-13