The peace process
The peace negotiations on South Sudan began in 2002, but only in 2005, after international mediation, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, with several agreements and protocols signed over a longer period. Negotiations were led by the regional organization Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD); Norway and the US also played a key role. As part of the process, an independent observer group based in the United States, the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT), was launched in 2002, according to an agreement between the parties on civil protection. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of SSPS that stands for the country of South Sudan.
Then, in 2003, IGAD set up an international group, the Verification and Monitoring Team (VMT), which partly took over the tasks after the CPMT. A group of 12 countries, coordinated by Switzerland and with participation from Norway – the so-called Friends of the Nuba Mountains constellation – was behind a monitoring mechanism in the Nuba Mountains: the Joint Military Commission (JMC) – which was also part of the peace process for the South. Sudan. JMC consisted of foreign observers, as well as military personnel from the two parties – under the leadership of the Norwegian Brigadier Jan-Erik Wilhelmsen. The group had the task of monitoring the separate peace agreement on the Nuba Mountains, signed between the Sudanese government and the SPLM in January 2002. In 2005, JMC transferred its tasks to the UN force United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS).
In May 2004, several agreements between the government and the SPLM were signed in Naivasha, Kenya, based on the so-called Machakos protocol, which in 2002 was signed between the government and the SPLM. The agreements cover several areas, including security, distribution of power as well as natural resources, and the conflicts in the Abyei district, South Kordofan and Blånil states. On the basis of these, a complete peace agreement with a permanent ceasefire (CPA) was signed; finally signed on January 9, 2005. The agreement covers a number of matters, the most important of which is the autonomy of South Sudan for six years, after which a referendum should be held about the region’s future, with detachment and own state formation as one alternative. As a result of the agreement, South Sudan gained its own government and president, headquartered in Juba. John Garang became the first President of the autonomous South Sudan, and at the same time Vice President of Sudan. After he died in a helicopter accident in July 2005, his position was taken over by Salva Kiir Mayardit.
Alongside political power, Sudan’s large oil deposits have played a significant role in the peace process: both the Khartoum central government and the Juba regional government in the south are dependent on the oil export revenues, as per the 2005 agreement, on both sides, used, among other things, to build up their respective armed forces. Oppositionists in the east and north have demanded that much of the oil-based revenues fall to development purposes in these areas. A key underlying feature of the agreement was that it would help to end South Sudan’s marginalization as well as allow for increased resources to other marginalized areas of the country, financed through revenues from oil exports. A proposal for demarcation of the north-south border was presented in 2008.
Under the peace agreement, forces from the Sudanese army were to withdraw from South Sudan, and a united defense was being built, in parallel with a reduction in the number of soldiers on both sides; a UN-sponsored disarmament program involving 180,000 soldiers was launched in 2009. At the same time, the SPLM retained – and strengthened – its military branch SPLA as the state’s own defense, and both sides prepared. A serious ceasefire breach took place in November 2006, when fighting broke out between the SPLA and the government- backed militia at the town of Malakal. The peace agreement underwent a new critical phase when the SPLM exited the central government in October-December 2007, as the party considered that the peace agreement was not complied with, partly because government soldiers from the north were not pulled out of the oil fields in the south. Peace was further under pressure as a result of fighting over Abyei in May 2008.
New battles followed in Abyei, even after South Sudan was established as an independent state, and a separate UN operation was deployed there in 2011: United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (UNIFSA). Based on the peace agreement, the UN Security Council in 2005 decided to establish a military force to monitor the peace agreement, UNMIS, with participation from Norway as well. Prior to this, a political delegation, the United Nations Advance Mission in the Sudan (UNAMIS), was established in 2004 to prepare the military effort.
In 2008, SPLM held its second national congress in Juba, where Salva Kiir was elected party leader; the first congress was held in 1994. The ceasefire – and the underlying intention to further develop one Sudan – was closely linked to the SPLM leader Garang, and after his death, less willingness was sought to seek such a solution, not least in the South Sudan.
Country data
Area: 619,745 km2 (world ranking: 43)
Population: 12,576,000
Population density: 20 per km2 (as of 2017, world ranking: 76)
Capital: Juba
Official languages: English
Gross domestic product: 2.9 billion US $; Real growth: -13.8%
Gross national product (GNP, per resident and year): n / a
Currency: 1 South Sudan. Pound (SSP) = 100 piastres
Embassy
Leipziger Platz 8, 10117 Berlin
Telephone 030 20644590,
Fax 030 206445919www.embassy-southsudan.de
Government
Head of State and Government: Salva Kiir MayarditTaban Deng GaiJames Wani Igga, Exterior: Nhial Deng Nhial
National Day: 9.7.
Administrative structure
28 federal states
State and form of government
Transitional constitution from 2011
Presidential Republic
Parliament: National Legislative Assembly with 332 members, election every 4 years; Council of States with 50 members (20 former members of the General Council of State, 30 appointed)
Direct election of the head of state every 5 years
Suffrage from 18 years of age
Population: South Sudanese, last census 2008: 8,260,490 residents
approx. 200 ethnic groups, mainly Nilotic peoples (including Dinka, Nuer, Schilluk, Azande, Toposa, Bari)
Cities (with population): (As of 2008) Juba 230,195 inh., Wau 118,331, Malakal 114,528, Yei 111,268, Yambio 105,881, Renk 68,922, Aweil 59,217, Bentiu 41,328
Religions: predomin. Christians; indigenous religions (status: 2006)
Languages: Arabic, English; Languages of the ethnic groups
Employed by economic sector: No information
Unemployment (in% of all economically active persons)
No information
Inflation rate (in%): 2017: 187.9%
Foreign trade: No information