If you read the last post, now you know what a South Sudan is. Awesome!
Now you might want to know a little more about what happened in the past to get
us to the current crisis in South Sudan. In the next couple of posts, I’ll take
you back to the beginning of the independence movement in South Sudan, the war
for independence, and the period leading up to South Sudan’s independence on
July 9, 2011. As an introduction to this
series of posts, this post will give you some basic facts to
provide you with the necessary context for the crisis.
·
Geography
o
Size: Slightly smaller than Texas
o
Capital: Juba
o
36 miles of paved roads (to put this in
perspective, Texas has over 150,000 miles of paved roads)
o
Very little clean water in the country
o
Less than 1% of South Sudan’s citizens have
access to electricity
·
People
o
Population: 11 million
o
Ethnic Groups: Dinka- 16%, Nuer- 6%, about 60
other smaller ethnic groups- 78%
o
Languages: English (official), Arabic (official),
Dinka, Nuer
o
Literacy: 27% (41% for men, 16% for women)
·
Economics:
o
98% of government revenue comes from oil revenue
o
26th largest oil exporter in the
world, 6th largest oil exporter in Africa
·
Independence: July 9, 2011
·
Crisis: Fighting began in Juba on December 15,
2013
o
Causes: possible coup (government overthrow)
attempt; internal ethnic conflict within the presidential guard (similar to
our Secret Service and apparently just as prone to controversy); political rivalry between President Kiir and former Vice-President Machar
o
Escalation: armed conflict spread throughout the
country
o
Deaths: over 1000 people (in 3 weeks)
o
Internally displaced persons (people made
homeless by fighting): over 120,000 people
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