A literary essay that tells the story of southern Sudan since 1983, and the emergence of a dominant military class in the country, sustained by international support and the indifference of the diplomatic corps. Link to publication
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A remarkable feature of the Southern Sudanese liberation movement during the First Sudanese Civil War was its use of anti-colonial discourse and tactics. Soon into their struggle, the Southern Sudanese came to depict their situation as colonisation by the Muslim-Arab elite in Khartoum. As this article argues, this adoption of anti-colonial identity was the outcome of Southern Sudanese interaction with neighbouring Arab and African first-generation liberation movements, through which the future leaders of the Southern…
The Republic of South Sudan, the world’s “youngest country,” gained independence from Sudan following decades of civil war in 2011, with fanfare, high hopes, and great expectations. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), the primary military force that fought for independence, transformed into the political rulers of the new country and lost its vision of a free and prosperous nation. Within two years of independence, the country has quickly degenerated into internecine warfare with fifty…
In July 2011, South Sudan was granted independence and became the world’s newest country. Yet just two-and-a-half years after this momentous decision, the country was in the grips of renewed civil war and political strife. Hilde F. Johnson served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan from July 2011 until July 2014 and, as such, she was witness to the many challenges which…
This article reviews five recently published books on the history of South Sudan and the Sudan. Nicki Kindersley identifies common aims of the books including: to bind the Sudans into their geographical and intellectual context; to illuminate histories previously hidden by a common but limited research focus on Sudans’ states and wars; and to reexamine methods and sources, particularly in the search for histories beyond elites and central state politics. Nicki Kindersley reviewed the following…
Sudan from which South Sudan split in 2011 has been known for its years of political and social upheaval since the end of the British colonial rule. The two countries are intimately linked to one another by their history that anyone writing about what has become known as the Sudans cannot hope to provide a meaningful context without reference to that shared past. This is what the author has done in this volume of his…
Africa’s newest nation has a long history. Often considered remote and isolated from the rest of Africa, and usually associated with the violence of slavery and civil war, South Sudan has been an arena for a complex mixing of peoples, languages, and beliefs. The nation’s diversity is both its strength and a challenge as its people attempt to overcome the legacy of decades of war to build a new economic, political, and national future. Most…
Expanded third edition of this key text on the complex underlying conditions of the civil war from the 1960s to the present day, including a new chapter on the current wars in Sudan’s new south and South Sudan. Sudan’s post-independence history has been dominated by political and civil strife. Most commentators have attributed the country’s recurring civil war either to an age-old racial divide between Arabs and Africans, or to recent colonially constructed inequalities. This…
South Sudan is the world’s youngest independent country. Established in 2011 after two wars, South Sudan has since reverted to a state of devastating civil strife. This book provides a general history of the new country, from the arrival of Turco-Egyptian explorers in Upper Nile, the turbulence of the Mahdist revolutionary period, the chaos of the ‘Scramble for Africa’, during which the South was prey to European and African adventurers and empire builders, to the…
This literature review offers a rough overview of the most relevant literature that has been produced on legal norms, actors and institutions in South Sudan generally, and Western Equatoria State in particular. The ‘Supporting Primary Justice in Insecure Contexts’-project informed its research through the study of a wide range of anthropological and historical works, as well as present-day publications by international organisations. This review is divided in five parts that evolve around the following key…
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