Civil War in South Sudan

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The Civil War in South Sudan was the armed struggle for autonomy or independence of South Sudan from Sudan . Rebels in South Sudan fought for greater self-determination, while the central government of Sudan took action using the army and militias . The first civil war lasted from 1955 to 1972, the second civil war from 1983 to 2005. The reasons for the conflict were the historical relations between South and North Sudan, economic interests in the natural resources of the South, ethnic and religious disparities and the lack of political participation in the South Sudan both in its own region and in the country as a whole.

States of South Sudan

prehistory

The population of northern Sudan is partly Arab , Islamic and fair-skinned, while the population of the south is mainly Christian or traditionally religious and consists of black African peoples such as the Nuba , Dinka , Nuer etc. Some relatively light-skinned northern Sudanese consider themselves Arabs as superior to the dark-skinned southern Sudanese.

Historically, slave traders from Northern Sudan hunted slaves in South Sudan. In order to prevent this, among other things, the colonial power Great Britain administered the north and south separately. In the south, for example, English was used as the official language instead of Arabic , and Christian missionaries were allowed to work.

Plans for the decolonization of Sudan initially went in the direction of allowing South Sudan to become independent as a separate area or to join Uganda in the south . At the Juba Conference of 1947, however, representatives of North Sudan and the colonial power Great Britain decided that North Sudan should also receive the provinces of South Sudan as national territory when it gained independence. The cause of this change of course in British politics is believed to be the simultaneous rebel activities in Uganda and Kenya , which the British feared could have seized South Sudan. A fall to the communist camp was also feared. Other assumptions suggest that the US exerted influence on the decolonization of British territories and worked to subordinate South Sudan to the north in order to win the sympathies of the future, north-dominated government in the Cold War . The South Sudanese were not involved in this decision.

As a result of this agreement, the North Sudan expanded the administration and military in South Sudan, which led to conflicts with the local population, who were now even less involved in the exercise of power in South Sudan. South Sudanese were also largely denied participation in the administration and government of the entire Sudan . When Sudan gained independence at the beginning of 1956, a widespread civil war between North Sudan and South Sudan began.

The conflict

First civil war

On August 18, 1955 - before Sudan's independence from the Anglo-Egyptian condominium on January 1, 1956 - soldiers rebelled in the city of Torit . With this began the armed resistance of the South against the discrimination and tutelage by the North. The insurgents organized themselves in the rebel group Anya-Nya . Their goal was first the autonomy of South Sudan , but soon independence .

The political parties in Northern Sudan rejected requests for autonomy or federalization from the South. Head of state Ibrahim Abbud , who came to power in a military coup in 1958, took brutal action against the rebels from a South Sudanese perspective in order to secure the unity of the entire country. In 1958–1959, numerous villages were burned to the ground. Chiefs and clan chiefs were killed, and civilians accused of cooperating with the Anya-Nya were detained and tortured.

The military dictatorship ended in 1964 when Abbud transferred power to a civilian government under al-Khatim al-Khalifa due to public pressure in the north . A round table conference was convened in Khartoum to discuss a solution to the “southern problem” with representatives from the North and the South, but remained inconclusive due to incompatible differences of opinion. In the 1965 elections, the South did not participate on the grounds that the security situation was too sensitive. The new government of the Umma party under Mahjub intensified the military action against the south, which increased the popularity of the Anya-Nya and independence struggles. Internal party differences between Mahjub and Sadiq al-Mahdi and the fact that the democratic government could not stop the rebellion contributed to the 1969 Jafar an-Numairi coup d'état.

Soon after coming to power, Numairi announced that he preferred a political solution to the conflict and sought talks with the rebels at the end of 1971. In February 1972, a ceasefire agreement was finally signed in Addis Ababa . The north granted autonomy, ending a conflict that had claimed some 500,000 to 700,000 lives. This condition lasted for eleven years.

Second civil war

Oil and gas concessions in South Sudan 2001

In the early 1980s, clashes broke out again when the north gradually intervened in autonomy. In the mid-1970s, for example, Chevron discovered oil deposits in Bentiu, South Sudan , which aroused the interest of the north. Numairi soon decided to send the crude oil to Kusti in the north for processing instead of building a refinery on site. The large-scale project of the Jonglei Canal , which resulted in channeling water from the south to the arid north , caused further tension . South Sudanese critics saw this as an exploitation of the south in favor of the north and pointed to possible negative consequences for the environment and the livelihoods of the affected population, who had never been consulted.

The concrete trigger for the second civil war was when army units from Bor , Pibor and Fashalla refused to give orders to go north in May 1983 and withdrew to Ethiopia. The mutineers were attacked by government troops on May 16, 1983.

Under pressure from the National Islamic Front under Hasan at-Turabi , which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood , President Numairi took over Islamist positions in 1977. This included the demand to Islamize the south . In September 1983 Numairi had Islamic law ( Sharia ) introduced for the whole of Sudan, and he declared himself the "Imam for all of Sudan". Contrary to the peace agreement, he had the south divided into three provinces and placed the province with the oil reserves directly under his government in Khartoum .

John Garang, leader of the SPLA / M

In the same year the SPLM (Sudanese People Liberation Movement) was founded with its armed arm, the SPLA (Sudanese People Liberation Army) , headed by Colonel John Garang . In 1989, 30,000 SPLA fighters fought 58,000 soldiers from the Sudanese central government, which was supported by Saudi Arabia and Libya . The SPLA controlled almost the entire south of Sudan, except for the garrison towns of Malakal , Wau and Juba .

At the beginning of 1989, after tough negotiations, the international community succeeded in wresting concessions from President Sadiq al-Mahdi to such an extent that Operation Lifeline Sudan could begin to supply the starving population within the war zones. The beginning of a peace process that was just beginning to emerge was ruined by the coup d'état by Omar al-Bashir on June 30, 1989.

How fights for scarce resources were fought along ethnic dividing lines in the course of the civil war is particularly evident in the example of El Diein (Ed Daein), a small town on the railway line east of Nyala. The place used to be one of the transshipment points for slaves, was classified by USAID as particularly dangerous for aid organizations because of the Darfur conflict that broke out in 2003 at the end of 2007 and was the scene of a massacre 20 years earlier, in early 1987. By May 1986, 17,000 Dinka had fled from the south to the supposedly quiet El Diein, where there were occasional disputes with the local Fur and Zaghawa at the scarce water points . The situation escalated when Baggara attacked Dinka villages in January 1987. SPLA fighters then attacked these Arab militias, killed over 150 Baggara and brought 4,000 cattle back into Dinka possession. On March 27, 1987, a group of armed Baggara Dinka attacked who had gathered in a church. A mob formed that raged through the Dinka district and hit those fleeing with sticks. The next day, a fire was set on a train that was fully occupied with Dinka and prepared for departure. UNICEF estimated the death toll at up to 1,500, Amnesty International later confirmed 426 Dinka killed. Most of them were women and children.

By 1991 the SPLA managed to control almost all of South Sudan, but the military situation shifted to the disadvantage of the SPLA, as in neighboring Ethiopia, after the fall of the socialist government, the Sudanese refugee camps, which had been a supply base for the SPLA, were dissolved and 100,000 Sudanese were forced to return to Sudan. Their supply now had to be decentralized and in the middle of the war zone. In addition, individual groups split off from the SPLA. On August 28, 1991 had in Nasir a militant faction of the Nuer as Nasir fraction of Garang, who was among the Dinka, renounced, allegedly dissatisfied because Garang could not assert its democratic concept in the "liberated areas". As a result, the same atrocities are said to have occurred between the two ethnic groups as between “Arabs” and black Africans. Since the government in Khartoum supplied the Nuer with weapons, the interethnic conflicts in the region around Bor were further stoked. On January 22nd, 1992, according to an eyewitness report, “a thousand men with modern infantry armament” (SPLA fighters of the Nuer) razed four Dinka villages to the ground. One of Nasir's three rebelling SPLA officers, Riek Machar , was presented to the Nuer as the new messiah. Overall, the number of Dinka around Bor was estimated to be over 1000, and a large part of the cattle herd (50,000 to 100,000 animals) is also said to have been killed or robbed, which led to famine.

In 1992 the government in Khartoum launched a counter-offensive and was able to partially push back the rebels. In February 1993, Kerubino Kwanyin Bol became the third rebel faction. He had been one of the founders of the SPLA and second in command. He was arrested by Garang in 1987, managed to escape in late 1992 and, with government support, participated in attacks on civilians and looting in early 1993. Here, too, shootings among the rebels at this time claimed more lives than the fight against the north. In April 1993, the split-off groups reunited. At the end of 1993, the government again controlled almost all major cities in the south. 1996 is seen as the climax of the cooperation between the Sudanese government and the Ugandan rebel movement Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which human rights organizations estimate to have received support from Khartoum until around 2005 for its attacks on civilian targets in the south.

The conflict turned again when the SPLA allied itself with the NDA ( National Democratic Alliance ) in June 1995 . The NDA was an alliance of various opposition groups from the north. Although the NDA consisted of individual groups with very different interests, its common goal was to eliminate the Islamic dictatorship in Khartoum under Omar al-Bashir , who had meanwhile become the Sudanese head of government. By 1996 the alliance gained significant territorial gains.

In 1999 the government gave in to pressure for the first time and decided to reintroduce a multi-party system . As a result, the first opposition group left the NDA in 2000 and moved to the government camp. Since the introduction of the multi-party system, the NDA has lost more and more power. It is now meaningless.

After the conclusion of the Bürgenstock Agreement in January 2002, which ended the civil war in the Nuba Mountains , the government finally agreed to peace talks with the SPLA under pressure from the USA . From 2003 to 2004 representatives of the government and the SPLA met repeatedly in Nairobi for negotiations.

A breakthrough was finally achieved in January 2005. After 22 years of civil war between the predominantly natural religious Christian south and the Muslim north, the final part of the Naivasha Agreement was signed.

The peace agreement

In the peace agreement concluded between the government and the SPLA in 2005, an agreement was reached on the creation of an autonomous region of South Sudan, which the SPLM is to administer largely independently. The Sharia has been overridden in the south and is only found in the north nor Muslims application. The revenues from the oil reserves in South Sudan would be shared equally between the South and the North. The sometimes controversial borders between North and South Sudan should be determined. Furthermore, the formation of a government of national unity was determined for the whole of Sudan , in which the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the SPLM would participate equally. The leader of the SPLM took over the office of vice-president. The United Nations Mission In Sudan UNMIS monitored the observance of the peace. A vote was scheduled for 2011 in which the South Sudanese would decide between independence and remaining in the whole of Sudan.

Results and consequences

As a result of the clashes, the civilian population suffered from famine , the dragging of civilians as slaves to Northern Sudan , displacement and the destruction of livelihoods. The great famine of 1998 was instrumentalized by the conflicting parties, if not partly brought about consciously. The SPLA of Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, which operated in the north of Bahr al-Ghazal , was again supported by Khartoum during this period.

Destroyed building in Nasir, South Sudan

Overall, the death toll from the civil war in South Sudan is estimated at more than two million, most of them South Sudanese civilians. Four million South Sudanese have been displaced and have been returning gradually since the end of the war. Caring for returnees is a problem as the war in South Sudan's agriculture was also badly affected and food supplies are low. The already sparse infrastructure of the south was largely destroyed.

Since the conclusion of the peace agreement, there have been several clashes between troops from the north and the south - the heaviest fighting occurred in May 2008 in the Abyei region - but these did not develop into another war. The Abyei area has had a special administrative status since 2009 and belongs to both Sudan and South Sudan.

The beginning of the peace talks with South Sudan made the black African population in Darfur feel even more neglected. In 2003, the JEM carried out the first attack in the ongoing Darfur conflict . Since the conclusion of the peace treaty, the discontent of the population in the border area of ​​the Nuba Mountains has grown . This complains of having been passed over by the north and south. In contrast, several peace treaties in 2006 and 2007 eased the conflict in East Sudan .

In accordance with the peace agreement, the independence referendum was held in South Sudan in January 2011 , in which almost 99% of the voters spoke out in favor of independence. On July 9, 2011, South Sudan became independent.

Humanitarian crisis 2011

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported that fighting between Sudanese and South Sudanese troops in the Sudanese states of South Korofan and the Blue Nile has forced 200,000 more people to flee since independence .

This wave of refugees and internally displaced persons , a large number of other refugees from the Congo and other neighboring countries, as well as ongoing problems of the food supply led to a famine and humanitarian crisis. The UNHCR leads the relief efforts on the ground. The cost of the aid program in 2012 was $ 84 million and in 2013 it is estimated at $ 220 million. The EU borne part of the costs and financed further aid programs worth 385 million euros.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Daniel Gerber: Fifteen dollars for a life . Basel, Brunnen 2005, ISBN 3-7655-3843-4 (p. 70 f.)
  2. ↑ Jok Madut Jok: Sudan - Race, Religion, And Violence , 2007, pp. 54–60.
  3. ↑ Jok 2007 (p. 62)
  4. ↑ Jok (p. 63)
  5. ↑ Jok (p. 66 f.)
  6. ^ Sudan (First Sudanese Civil War). University of Hamburg ( Memento from August 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Jok (p. 72)
  8. ↑ Jok (p. 70f.)
  9. ↑ Abdel Salam Sidahmed: Politics and Islam in Contemporary Sudan. Curzon Press, Richmond 1997, p. 158
  10. ↑ Abdel Salam Sidahmed, p. 120. As early as 1975 he sent a circular to his ministers, saying they should abstain from alcohol and generally maintain good decency.
  11. ↑ Jok (pp. 73–76)
  12. ↑ James Astill: Sudan's stolen children. Guardian, March 3, 2002
  13. ↑ Situation Report 6, 2007. USAID ( Memento from December 20, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Rainer Tetzlaff: Ethnic conflicts in Sudan. In: Sigrid Faayth and Hanspeter Mattes: Wuquf 7–8. Contributions to the development of the state and society in North Africa. Hamburg 1993, pp. 156-158. / Burr and Collins, pp. 92-97
  15. ^ Journalist Bernd Girrbach: Broadcast manuscript of the WDR, May 24, 1992. Quoted from: Rainer Tetzlaff: Ethnic conflicts in Sudan. In: Sigrid Faath and Hanspeter Mattes: Wuquf 7–8. Contributions to the development of the state and society in North Africa. Hamburg 1993, p. 161
  16. ^ Mareike Schomerus: The Lord's Resistance Army in Sudan: A History and Overview. Small Arms Survey, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva 2007, p. 24 f ( Memento of May 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) ISBN 2-8288-0085-7
  17. ↑ Gerard Prunier: A Little History of South Sudan. In: Le Monde diplomatique , February 2011, p. 10
  18. ↑ Special Focus: South Sudan. Field Exchange, February 1999. Emergency Nutrition Network, Department of Community Health & General Practice, Trinity College, Dublin. ( Memento from November 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In it on the origin of the 1998 famine: David Keene: Making Famine in Sudan. Pp. 6-7
  19. ↑ STP : 70,000 people flee violence in the contested oil region Abyei in South Sudan ( memento from June 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , May 28, 2008.
  20. ↑ a b United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): 2013 UNHCR country operations profile - South Sudan , accessed March 4, 2013
  21. ↑ Doctors Without Borders : South Sudan - 170,000 refugees from Sudan are living in catastrophic conditions , accessed March 4, 2013
  22. ^ Answer of the European Commission to the parliamentary question " Development aid and the fight against famine in South Sudan " by MEP Hans-Peter Martin , accessed on March 4, 2013