Summary:South Sudan emerged in 2011 as the worldâs newest country, and as one of its least developed. After almost 40 years of war between the Sudan government and southern insurgents, an overwhelming majority of southern Sudanese voted in January 2011 to secede from Sudan. More than 2.5 million people were killed in the civil war and some 4.5 million were displaced. Many fled as refugees, including to the United States. South Sudan was devastated by the conflict, which hindered the development of basic infrastructure and formal civilian institutions. The war created massive, chronic humanitarian needs that persisted, despite a bounty of natural resources, including 75% of Sudanâs former oil reserves. Corruption in the new government reportedly slowed post-war recovery. South Sudan was the worldâs largest recipient of humanitarian aid in 2013; its needs since then have grown substantially. In December 2013, less than three years after independence, growing political tensions among key leaders in South Sudan erupted in violence. The dispute that triggered the crisis was not based on ethnic identity, but it overlapped with preexisting ethnic and political grievances, sparking armed clashes and targeted ethnic killings in the capital, Juba, and then beyond. After the initial outbreak of fighting, President Salva Kiir accused his former vice president, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. By some accounts, hundreds of civilians died in ensuing attacks reportedly targeting Macharâs ethnic group, the Nuer; revenge attacks against Kiirâs ethnic group, the Dinka, followed.
