South Sudan seceded from Sudan on July 9th, 2011. Prior to southern secession, the country of Sudan experienced serious internal conflict for much of the last half-century following independence from Britain in 1956. Governments focused on building up the “center” around Khartoum and sought to promote Arabism and Islam, leaving non-Muslims, southerners, and other populations on the periphery in all directions politically and economically marginalized.
The first Sudanese civil war ended in 1972, but conflict between north and south resumed in 1983 and raged for more than two decades. In 1989, President Omar al-Bashir seized power in a coup and installed the hard-line National Islamic Front (later the National Congress Party), which intensified the conflict between the north and south. This government was politically repressive and also at times supported radical Islamist groups.
The people of the south, as well as those in the west and east of Sudan, were subject to increasing alienation from the central government. As the north-south conflict continued, the ruling government sought to manipulate and exploit divisions in the south, and violence raged. In total, more than two million people died in the north-south civil wars, and more than four million were displaced.
In the 1990s, regional efforts to bring an end to the war gathered momentum, and finally, in 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed. It granted some autonomy to the south and allowed for a referendum on independence for southern Sudan to be held six years later.Yet even as the north-south war was winding down, another serious internal conflict emerged in the western region of Darfur in 2003. A rebellion by armed groups led to a brutal counterinsurgency campaign by the Khartoum government and its allied militias. Many communities were devastated in the violence that ensued, and a large international campaign formed to urge action to stop the massacres in Darfur. An African Union peacekeeping operation transitioned to United Nations command in 2007, as international forces sought to stabilize a chaotic situation in western Sudan, which has also had destabilizing effects on neighboring Chad.
As violence continues to plague Darfur, there have been problems, too, in the east of the country and in the Nuba Mountains, where the local populations also claim longstanding economic and political marginalization by Khartoum.
The referendum for southern Sudan took place in January 2011 and resulted in overwhelming support for independence. Several important issues remain outstanding––regarding citizenship, security, and the status of the contested region of Abyei, where violence spiked in the early summer of 2011. Fighting along the border continues to flare, and all parties continue to work on these challenges with support from the U.S. and others in the international community. In August 2012, after nearly two years of talks, both north and south agreed to an interim oil revenue-sharing deal, which is important to both countries' economies. Additionally, the two countries signed nine cooperation agreements in September 2012 that address oil, border issues, citizenship, and the division of debts and assets. Relations between Sudan and South Sudan remained strained throughout 2013, with border disputes and economic issues serving as regular points of contention.
In December 2013, violence broke out in the South Sudan capital of Juba when a simmering political dispute erupted between military forces supporting the current president, Salva Kiir, and the former vice president, Riek Machar. Armed clashes marked by ethnic targeting have since spread across the country. As of April 2015, observers estimate that several thousand people have been killed and 1.5 million have been displaced by violence. Efforts to broker peace by the East African Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia continue to fail, and several ceasefire agreements that have been signed by the warring parties have not been upheld. In March, the U.N. Security Council established a sanctions regime for South Sudan, drafted by the U.S., which threatens to blacklist anyone undermining security or interfering with the peace process
While the U.S. designates Sudan as a state sponsor of terrorism and has in place comprehensive economic, trade, and financial sanctions, the U.S. played a significant role in brokering the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and continues to provide significant assistance in response to the crisis in Darfur and in support of peace and stability in Sudan and South Sudan. International experts continue to call for a broadly inclusive National Dialogue in Sudan to bring about needed reforms in the country.
