History of South Sudan
Proto-Nilotic speaking peoples migrating southwards started arriving in the northernmost regions of South Sudan (Upper Nile state) in 3,000 BC.
Since about the 14th century, following the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia, the Nilotic peoples gradually came to dominate the region.
[2] For the same reasons in later times the search for the source of the Nile was particularly difficult; it eventually involved overland expeditions from the central African coast, so as to avoid having to travel through the Sudd.
This coincides with the collapse of the Christian Nubian kingdoms of Makuria and Alodia and the penetration of Arab traders into central Sudan.
Shilluk traditions tell of King Odak Ocollo who ruled c. 1630 and led them in a three-decade war with the Funj over control of the White Nile trade routes.
The same period saw the gradual collapse of the Funj Sultanate, leaving the Shilluk in complete control of the White Nile and its trade routes.
[9] The non-Nilotic Azande people, who entered southern Sudan in the 16th century, established the region's largest state.
They are found in Maridi, Iba, Yambio, Nzara, Ezon, Tambura and Nagere Counties in the tropical rain forest belt of western Equatoria and Bahr el Ghazal.
[10] The Azande developed kingdoms dominated by families of Avongara aristocrats that enacted assimilationist policies that were built on the strength of converting conquered peoples into subjects of the king and noble class.
The Zande kingdoms used trial by ordeal as a means of assessing guilt or innocence when administering justice and law through the use of a poison that was used as an oracle.
In 1821 the Funj Sultanate to the north collapsed in the face of an invasion by Egypt under the Ottoman Governor Muhammad Ali.
The most successful expeditions were led by Admiral Salim Qabudan who between 1839 and 1842 sailed the White Nile, reaching as far south as modern-day Juba.
Christian missionaries also established posts in the region, with the Catholic Apostolic Vicariate of Central Africa, that dotted the landscape.
In previous centuries Sudanese merchants had not placed a high price on ivory, but the period of Egyptian rule coincided with a great increase in global demand as middle class Americans and Europeans began to purchase pianos and billiard balls.
[13] The Ottoman Khedive of Egypt, Isma'il Pasha, was concerned over the growing power of al-Zubayr, and established the province of Equatoria and planned to colonize the area.
The Mahdist War did not spread south to the non-Muslim areas, but cut off southern Sudan from Egypt, leaving Emin Pasha isolated and without resources.
[14] On 18 August 1955 the Equatorial Corps garrison in Torit –which was composed of local southern Sudanese– muttinied over the prospects of being replaced with northern Sudanese soldiers.
These meetings eventually led to the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972 ended the war and established the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region.
[17] In direct response to this, the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) was formed under the leadership of John Garang, and the Second Sudanese Civil War erupted.
Several factions split from the SPLA often along ethnic lines and were funded and armed by Khartoum, with the most notable being the SPLA-Nasir in 1991 led by Riek Machar.
[28] On 6 June 2011 armed conflict broke out between the forces of Northern and Southern Sudan, ahead of the scheduled independence of the South on 9 July.
By late June, several international interlocutors including the United Nations advanced a proposal to base 4,200 Ethiopian soldiers in Abyei to serve as peacekeepers.
[32] On 22 April, more fighting broke out on the border as Sudanese soldiers backed by tanks and artillery launched three waves of attacks 10 kilometres (6 mi) deep inside South Sudan.
[38] In mid-March 2013, both countries began to withdraw their forces from the border area in a bid to create a demilitarised buffer zone and resume South Sudanese oil production for export through Sudan.
[41] In the SPLA/M's attempt to disarm rebellions among the Shilluk and Murle, they burned scores of villages, raped hundreds of women and girls and killed an untold number of civilians.
[43] The UN reports many of these violations and the frustrated director of one Juba-based international aid agency calls them "human rights abuses off the Richter scale".
[45] The White Army released a statement, to "wipe out the entire Murle tribe on the face of the earth as the only solution to guarantee long-term security of Nuer's cattle.
[47] Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) also operates in a wide area that includes South Sudan.
[48] The fighters accuse the government of plotting to stay in power indefinitely, not fairly representing and supporting all tribal groups while neglecting development in rural areas.
[51] Following a second breakout of violence in Juba, Machar was replaced as vice-president[52] and he fled to Sudan[53] and the conflict erupted again.
