Country profilesSouth Sudan

Humanitarian profile

Decades of war have left a legacy of chronic poverty, insecurity, poor infrastructure and a lack of healthcare and education in South Sudan. Relief groups have warned of a displacement crisis as the fledgling government struggles to cope with an influx of people fleeing violence in Sudan's border states, internal displacement due to ethnic clashes and the return of South Sudanese after the country's independence.  

Country snapshot

South Sudan became Africa's newest nation on July 9, 2011, when it gained independence from Sudan - the culmination of a 2005 peace deal that ended two decades of conflict with Khartoum. However, tensions remain high between the two neighbours whose civil war killed an estimated 2 million people.

South Sudan, a country of swamps, tropical rainforest and expansive grassland, accounts for around 75 percent of the formerly united country's oil output and oil revenues could make it one of the wealthiest countries in the region.

But disputes with Sudan over sharing oil revenues and ending fighting in a volatile border region, threaten to hold back South Sudan's development.

While most of South Sudan was united in its war against Khartoum, independence has exposed ethnic faultlines among the country's population of 8 million people.

Government

The Republic of South Sudan's government is based in Juba with President Salva Kiir, the founding head of state.

The cabinet, or National Council of Ministers, is appointed by the president and approved by the National Legislative Assembly, the lower house of parliament.The upper house is the Council of States.

Government positions are dominated by members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the political wing of the rebel army that fought Khartoum for over 20 years.

Politically and militarily, South Sudan needs to ensure it opens a dialogue with the opposition to build the kind of multi-party democratic state donors will want to see in return for their financial support.  

The country comprises 10 administrative states: Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Jonglei, Lakes, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Upper Nile, Warrap, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Western Equatoria.

Economy

The South Sudanese government is faced with the mammoth task of building a new nation from scratch.

Its biggest challenge is to diversify an economy that is 98 percent dependant on oil. While three-quarters of the former Sudan's oil reserves are now in landlocked South Sudan, the refineries and pipeline to the Red Sea are in Sudan - which suggests South Sudan's economic fortunes will be tied to its former foe for some time to come.

Investors have so far been reluctant to commit money due to a lack of infrastructure, corruption and rampant rebel and tribal violence.

According to some reports, there are just 60 kms of paved roads in the country where most people depend on subsistence farming for their livelihoods.

Electricity is produced mostly by expensive diesel generators and running water is scarce.

Agriculture in many parts is still done by hand with hoes.

History

Anglo-Egyptian forces captured Khartoum in 1889, jointly-administering Africa's largest country. The British separated north and south until 1947, giving political power to the northern elite before Sudan gained independence in 1956.

Fearing marginalisation by north, southern army officers mutinied in 1955, forming the Anya-Nya (snake venom) guerrilla movement.

The military-led government of President Jaafar Nimieri agreed to autonomy for the south in 1972. However repeated violations of the deal by the government combined with its growing campaign to give the country an Islamic identity and the discovery of oil in the south led to a resumption of war.

In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the main southern rebel group led by John Garang, launched a war against the northern-based government, partly sparked by its imposition of Islamic sharia law.

The war pitted the black African south, which mainly follows Christianity and traditional beliefs, against the mainly Muslim, Arabic-speaking north. The war was complicated by tribal and factional fighting, as well as the conflict over oil.

Fighting killed an estimated 2 million people and forced millions more to flee their homes, many of them ending up in refugee camps in neighbouring countries like Kenya and Ethiopia.

The conflict ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which set out a referendum on secession. The vote on independence took place on January 9, 2011. South Sudanese voted overwhelmingly to split from Sudan. Six months later, on July 9, South Sudan won its independence.

Notably absent from the celebrations was SPLA leader Garang, who had led peace talks. Garang was killed in a helicopter crash in 2005, just months after signing the CPA. His number two, SPLA veteran, Salva Kiir became South Sudan's first president instead.

Legal snapshot

South Sudan's judiciary is structured with the Supreme Court at the top, presiding over Courts of Appeal, High Courts and Country Courts.

However, the rule of law is limited in the country.

Corruption is a considerable problem all over South Sudan. At the end of May 2009, South Sudan President Kiir reshuffled his cabinet following allegations of corruption and mismanagement, sacking his finance minister and two other officials.