South Sudan: From Bullets to Bullets 3 years down after independence

Juba, South Sudan: South Sudan has a history of fighting for many decades. On January 1st, 1956, Sudan gained independence from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, the joint British and Egyptian government that administrated the greater Sudan. The 1956 constitution however did not address two crucial issues that continued to incite conflict: whether Sudan should be a secular or Islamist state, and the country’s federal structure.  The Arab-led government of Sudan, based in the capital of Khartoum reneged on promises to southerners to create a federal system, which led to a mutiny by southern army officers that launched the first of Sudan’s two north-south civil wars.

The first civil war started in 1958. The civil war, between Sudanese government and southerners lasted up to 1972, with southern rebels demanding for greater autonomy for Southern Sudan. The second civil war erupted in 1983 due to longstanding issues heightened by then President Jaafar Nimeiri’s decision to introduce Sharia law. Negotiations between the government and the SPLAM/A of southern Sudan took place in 1988 and 1989, but were abandoned when general Omar al-Bashir took over power in 1989 through a military coup. The fight since then heightened as southerners fought for self-determination, freedom of worship, and equitable distribution of resources until 2005 when Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) came into being. The CPA established a six-year Interim Period. During the Interim Period, southern Sudan enjoyed a high degree of autonomy within a united Sudan. The Second Civil War left two and a half million people dead and four million people displaced between 1983 and 2005.