South Sudan, which split from Sudan in 2011, is one of the youngest countries in the world and the youngest in Africa.
It represents one of a handful of cases in which an independence movement has actually succeeded and generated a fully sovereign state recognized by the United Nations.
The road to independence was not an easy one, nor was it bloodless. In fact, it was the result of Africa’s longest civil war, instigated by cultural and religious differences, as well as that usual suspect: colonial borders.
A Path to Conflict
At the end of the 19th century, the region known as The Sudan had been conquered. Officially, it was jointly administered by Britain and Egypt, but in reality, there was little equality in this relationship. The British held sway, and Egypt took a back seat to the colonial agenda in The Sudan.
From a demographic perspective, it was already evident that problems could arise within the state. Sudan was divided into nine provinces. Three-quarters of the population lived in the northern six provinces, which were mostly Arab and Muslim. The southern three provinces were ethnically diverse but overwhelmingly made up of sub-Saharan tribes that followed traditional African religions, as well as Christianity, which was fast gaining a foothold in the region.
Thus, The Sudan was a territory of two hugely different areas with very little in common. The British were acutely aware of this and tried to keep the regions separate. By instituting laws requiring northerners and southerners to have passbooks to enter the other’s territory, they hoped to stop the spread of Arabization in the South and thus defuse any tensions that could arise.
In 1924, a revolt rocked Sudan, but it was put down by the British, who ruled comfortably until after the Second World War. After the war, a wave of decolonization swept through Africa. Movements grew throughout the continent, and Sudan stood at a crossroads.
In the north of the country, some wanted independence, and some preferred a union with Egypt. In 1952, however, the Egyptian government, which was pro-unification, was overthrown, and a new government was sworn in. This new government was staunchly anti-colonialist and supported full independence of Sudan. On February 12, 1953, the Egyptian and British governments signed a treaty guaranteeing Sudanese independence within three years.
Thus, Sudan ended up on a path towards sovereignty. Those in the southern regions feared complete dominance by the north and began working towards agreements that would guarantee a certain level of autonomy.
Many in the North were reticent in giving too much autonomy to the South, and tensions rose.
On August 18, 1955, troops from the south were ordered to relocate to Khartoum in the north. Unhappy with this decision, many southern troops mutinied, attempting to stoke a rebellion. This mutiny was quickly put down, but the fires of resistance had been lit, and their message spread as they agitated against Northern dominance.
Abrogating any sense of responsibility, the British pulled out of the region and left Sudan to its own devices.
Descent Into Conflict
Before Sudan even declared independence, it was already in a state of civil war that lasted from 1955 to 1972. This was the First Sudanese Civil War.
Sudan declared independence on January 1, 1956, and took its first steps as an independent nation. In November of that year, Sudan also joined the United Nations as a full member. These steps, however, were shaky. Loose alliances in the political sphere caused instability rife with corruption and those looking out for their personal interests over that of their party and their country. Conflict with the South added to the instability.
On the night of November 16-17, 1958, a bloodless coup toppled the government, and General Ibrahim Abboud took control of the country. He dissolved political parties and ran Sudan with the help of a military junta.
Abboud’s attempt to unify the country into an Islamic state failed miserably. He replaced English in education systems with Arabic and made efforts to spread Islam throughout the country—a move that angered the heavily Christian south. From 1962 to 1964, the Sudanese government proceeded to expel Christian missionaries from the country. Violent reactions followed.
Anti-government demonstrations followed strikes, and in 1963, parts of the south erupted in rebellion. Several guerilla groups combined to form the separatist rebel army called the Anyanya. The government responded with repression but was unable to defeat the rebel army.
Many in the North were also angered by the government’s attempts to assimilate and pacify the South. Student demonstrations condemned the government’s actions, and unable to maintain control, Abboud resigned in 1965. Elections were held, but the government that followed was impotent and plagued by factional disputes. Successive coups yielded little results.
Into this mix, Israel began arming the rebels. It was concerned about Sudan getting too close to Egypt, Israel’s biggest enemy at the time. Leading the southern rebels, General Joseph Lagu was able to maintain dialogue with the north, and the fighting eventually died down, leading to the Addis Ababa Agreement in February 1972. It was agreed that the South would become the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region. It would have a certain amount of autonomy with its own legislature, and English would be the official language in the South.
The peace, however, would not last.
The Second Civil War
For the remaining years of the 1970s and into the 1980s, the North did little to adhere to the Addis Ababa Agreement. Sudan became increasingly radical as the Muslim Brotherhood, a regional Islamist organization, started operating in the country. In 1983, President Gaafar Nimeiry left the agreement and declared all of Sudan, including the south, an Islamic state under Sharia Law.
As a direct response, the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) was formed in the south under the leadership of John Garang. On June 5, 1983, the Second Sudanese Civil War began.
To add to this dynamic, oil was discovered in the border areas between the two regions in 1978, adding fuel to the reasons for conflict, as each side recognized the importance of the potential resource for their futures.
Early in the war, the SPLA was able to consolidate its territory while the North suffered from political instability. In April 1985, Nimeiry was overthrown, and the interim military government held elections a year later. The result was a return to civilian rule, but again, the leadership was indecisive and ineffective.
In 1986, John Garang met with the Sudanese government in the first attempt at peace negotiations. The SPLA and other Sudanese political parties met in Ethiopia to discuss the future of Sudan. They were particularly interested in dismantling Sharia Law policies, which they saw as dangerously radical and a threat not only to non-Muslims.
Attempts at peace agreements fell through, and on June 30, 1989, Colonel Omar Hassan al-Bashir seized power with the help of a political party called the National Islamic Front (NIF).
Al-Bashir promptly became a general and instituted a 15-man military junta known as the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation. Al-Bashir was the president, prime minister, chief of state, and chief of the armed forces. Sudan became a brutal dictatorship, with other political parties and trade unions banned.
A Grinding Stalemate
Despite the South being run by disparate groups that were prone to fighting among themselves, the war against the government continued, and hundreds of thousands of lives were lost. The SPLA, however, saw successes on the battlefield and was able to limit the control of the NIF.
These fortunes changed in May 1991. Under the control of the Derg government, Ethiopia had been a huge supporter of the SPLA, and many training camps were located in Ethiopia. With the fall of the Derg, Ethiopia began to shift more towards good relations with the Sudanese government and ended its support for the SPLA.
The North fared little better on the international scene. Both sides of the conflict were losing international support as it became clear that there had been numerous atrocities and war crimes committed by both belligerents. In 1992, Bashir’s forces took considerable territory in the south but were unable to capitalize on their successes.
A lull in the fighting ended in 1994 when the Sudanese government launched operations to cut off the SPLA from being supplied via Uganda. The Sudanese government did this by employing the efforts of Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army, which was leading a rebellion against the Ugandan government.
In 1995, the SPLA launched a counter-offensive and managed to reverse most of the Sudanese gains made in 1992.
Road to Peace
By this time, both sides of the conflict were exhausted and looking for a way out. With the help of the international community, peace talks were held in various locations, and steps were taken to hammer out an agreement that would be acceptable to both sides.
Factions in the South began repairing strained relations, while in the North, the Sudanese government tried to reduce the amount of radical Islamist influence in the country. At the same time, it was trying to control an anti-government insurrection that had routed government forces in the western province of Darfur.
Government forces, unable to gain victory against the Darfurian rebels, took their anger out on civilians and began attacking villages.
Peace talks achieved significant success in 2002 when the Sudanese government and the rebels met in Kenya. The Machakos Protocol acknowledged that the South would have the legal basis to seek self-determination.
In January 2005, a peace agreement was finally reached between the Sudanese government and the SPLA/M, in a process that was facilitated by the US Bush administration. It was agreed that the south would hold a referendum on whether to remain part of Sudan or secede. In the interim, 10,000 UN troops were deployed to maintain control of the tense situation.
In 2005, John Garang died in a plane crash. It is suspected that this was the work of those trying to derail the peace process, but nothing has ever been proven. In January 2011, the long-awaited referendum was finally held.
The poll turnout was 97.58%, and 98.83% voted in favor of seceding from Sudan. On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became an independent nation. Through conflict and famine, the wars had claimed the lives of about two million people.
Bitter End
Independence did not bring peace to the region. In 2013, South Sudan descended into its own civil war that lasted over six years, claiming the lives of almost 400,000 people and displacing millions.
Today, South Sudan faces major problems. Militias roam a country in constant conflict. Sexual violence and child soldiers are prevalent, while the government does not have the power to impose control. Other war crimes and attacks on international aid operations have significantly lowered the outlook for the country.
South Sudan’s fight for independence represents one of the few successful independence movements. Independence, however, did not bring an end to strife. Amid the tensions, South Sudan struggles and looks for a way forward.
It remains one of the poorest nations in the world, with a literacy rate of only 25% and half the population living on less than $1 a day.
