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1 1 (October 28, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbboj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ICongressional Research Service hforIn o the legislive debate since 1914 Updated October 28, 2019 South Sudan Peace has been elusive in South Sudan, which became the world's newest country in 2011. Nearly 400,000 people are estimated to have died as a result of a civil war that began in 2013. The war has displaced over four million people, including over two million refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. It is Africa's largest refugee crisis. Background and Context South Sudan's independence from Sudan, supported by the United States, came after a vote for secession in 2011, following almost 40 years of rebellion against the Sudanese government. That war, which displaced over four million people and led to as many as two million deaths, inhibited the development of basic infrastructure, human capital, and formal civilian institutions in the south. Humanitarian needs persisted after independence, despite abundant natural resources, including oil fields that once generated 75% of Sudan's oil production. Corruption and malfeasance slowed post-war recovery and development. With secession, South Sudan gained its sovereignty, but by many accounts its population lacked a common identity-despite a shared history of trauma and marginalization-and its leaders, former rebels, had little experience in governing. South Sudan's current conflict reflects tensions among its leaders and ethnic groups that date back to Sudan's civil war. While that war was described broadly as a north-south struggle, it also featured infighting among southern rebel commanders in the 1990s that nearly derailed the southern bid for self-determination. Leaders in the insurgency, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLMI SPLA), competed for power and mobilized supporters along ethnic lines. All sides committed atrocities. The government in Khartoum fueled SPLM divisions by financing breakaway factions. The factions reconciled in the early 2000s, before Khartoum and the SPLM signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. After the CPA, the SPLM became the south's ruling party. Ethnic tensions and interpersonal rivalries grew under the strain of new governing responsibilities, amid severe human, institutional, and infrastructure capacity constraints. The country was awash in small arms, and local ethnic violence was increasingly politicized. Maneuvering ahead of planned 2015 elections added to these dynamics. Work on a new constitution stalled, and a political struggle among senior officials unfolded. A July 2013 cabinet reshuffle, in which President Kiir dismissed his vice president, Riek Machar, and other key officials, formalized a major fissure in the ruling party. Tensions rose as Machar and others publicly accused Kiir of becoming increasingly dictatorial. Those tensions erupted in December 2013. What began as a conflict among the presidential guard ultimately split the military, largely along ethnic lines. Ethnic militia mobilized behind their respective political leaders, and the country slipped into war. Uganda provided initial military support to the government and has facilitated arms imports. h'ttps:!crsrepo Source: CRS map. Facts from CIA and IMF reference databases. The Return to War The political dispute that triggered the crisis in 2013 was not based on ethnic identity, but it overlapped with existing ethnic and political grievances, spurring targeted ethnic killings and clashes in the capital, Juba, and then beyond. At the outbreak of the conflict, President Salva Kiir accused Machar of attempting a coup. Hundreds died in attacks reportedly targeting Machar's Nuer ethnic group in Juba. Revenge attacks against Kiir's group, the Dinka, followed. Machar and several senior Nuer military commanders subsequently declared a rebellion. The ensuing war pitted government forces and militia loyal to Kiir against those aligned with Machar, spurring a mass humanitarian crisis. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD; an East African regional body) sought to mediate a peace deal, but the parties repeatedly violated their commitments to cease hostilities. In August 2015, under threat of a proposed arms embargo and other sanctions, they finally signed a peace agreement. Kiir did so with reservations, calling the deal an attack on South Sudan's sovereignty. The parties delayed implementation of the deal until April 2016, when they formed a new Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU), six months behind schedule. Machar returned to Juba to become First Vice President and a new cabinet was appointed. Sporadic clashes continued, though, and violence spread to areas that had previously been comparatively stable. The deal collapsed in July 2016, when a series of incidents between the parties' forces in Juba sparked days of intense fighting. Machar and others in the opposition fled the country, pursued by Kiir's forces to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Machar was subsequently airlifted to Sudan for medical treatment, and later traveled to South Africa, where by some accounts he was placed under de-facto house arrest. The war resumed. Both sides claimed commitment to the 2015 deal, while accusing each other of abrogating it. Kiir sought to maintain the appearance of a unity government, replacing Machar with Machar's ally-turned-rival, Taban Deng, and dismissing opposition cabinet ministers and legislators loyal to Machar. Machar continued to lead the main armed opposition faction from exile. The insurgency Ccongress.gov

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