SOUTH SUDAN

South Sudan is Africa’s youngest country, gaining independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war. Independence however did not end the conflict in South Sudan. The young state plunged into crisis in December 2013 amid a power struggle between the president and his deputy whom he had sacked. Fighting between government troops and rebel factions erupted into a conflict that killed thousands and prompted more than 3.4 million people to flee their homes. Sadly, on the 5th anniversary of the country’s independence, the fighting broke out again and forced over 1.5 million to seek refuge in neighboring Uganda and Kenya. In March of 2017, famine was declared in part of South Sudan only exacerbating the problem. South Sudan is a land of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile. It is one of the most diverse countries in Africa with over 60 different major ethnic groups, the majority of whom follow traditional religions, with a minority of Christians.