SOUTH SUDAN: FIVE THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW AS POP FRANCIS VISITS

 

Pope Francis (left) meets South Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit during a private audience at the Vatican on March 16, 2019. 

What you should know: South Sudan is made up of more than 60 different ethnic groups and is wedged between Africa's rich tropical jungles and dry, arid deserts.

Of the 12 million inhabitants in South Sudan, about 60% are Christians, with the remaining one-third practicing animism and other traditional religions. Muslims make up a tiny minority.

The first papal visit to the unrest-ridden nation since it gained independence less than ten years ago will be made by Pope Francis on Friday.

Here are five things to know about the newest nation in the world

1-Diverse peoples

South Sudan is made up of more than 60 different ethnic groups and is wedged between Africa's rich tropical jungles and dry, arid deserts.

The Dinka are the largest ethnic group, followed by the Nuer. Both have been present along the White Nile, one of the two major tributaries of the longest river in the world, for generations. The White Nile passes through South Sudan on its way north.

The majority of the population in South Sudan is Christian, thanks to European missionaries who traveled there in the late 1800s to spread the gospel and build a base of support against the advance of Islam further south into Africa.

Of the 12 million inhabitants in South Sudan, about 60% are Christians, with the remaining one-third practicing animism and other traditional religions. Muslims make up a tiny minority.

2-Liberation struggle

In July 2011, South Sudan declared its independence from Sudan, which has a majority of Muslims. Nearly 99 percent of voters in the referendum supported separation.

The referendum came after two civil conflicts between rebels in the predominantly Christian south and the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, which were frequently framed as a struggle for religious liberty.

The protracted fight for statehood resulted in the deaths of millions of people. In 2005, both the government and the rebels in the south signed a peace agreement. Prior to the independence referendum, it gave the south six years of self-rule and exempted it from Islamic sharia law.

Salva Kiir, a Dinka, was named president of the newly independent nation. Riek Machar, a Nuer commander, and rival rebel leader was appointed his deputy.

3-Return to war

Rising leadership difficulties between the two erupted two years after independence when Machar dared to confront Kiir, prompting the president to fire his deputy.

South Sudan entered a civil war after fighting broke out between their bodyguards in Juba in December 2013. Kiir then accused Machar of orchestrating a failed coup.

The struggle broke down along ethnic lines, and for the following five years, the new nation was engulfed in unusually intense violence.

Government and rebel forces were both responsible for numerous massacres, rapes, and acts of sexual assault. Later, the UN would charge both sides with starving civilians on purpose.

Nearly 400,000 South Sudanese had died and another four million had been forced from their homes by the time Kiir and Machar decided to honor a truce in 2018.

4-Conflict, floods, and hunger

The peace agreement is mostly still in effect, but local militia clashes, ethnic killings, and a southern insurgency have kept South Sudan trapped in a condition of widespread instability.

Numerous crises are present throughout the nation. More than a million people have been displaced as a result of four years of unprecedented flooding in a region the size of a fifth of France.

This catastrophe has disrupted harvests and led to the worst levels of famine since independence when combined with armed strife. According to the World Food Programme, there are around eight million individuals who are food insecure.

The nation is extremely poor despite its oil wealth, and corruption is rampant. Rural areas have almost no access to healthcare, and there are just a few hundred doctors nationally. It ranks among the most perilous sites for humanitarian workers and has one of the highest mortality rates for children under five worldwide.

5-Swamp and savannah

South Sudan is a hotspot for biodiversity, with 15% of its land area designated as protected national parks and reserves, which are home to a wide range of species, including lions, giraffes, and elephants.

It is home to Africa's largest wetland, the Sudd, as well as the continent's longest unbroken savannah, a stretch of untamed wilderness that extends all the way to Ethiopia and is located east of the White Nile.

Around 1.2 million antelopes and gazelles traverse this vast environment each year. Only the storied wildebeest crossing in the Mara and Serengeti can surpass the migration in scope and size.

Preparations to receive Pope Francis in South Sudan in top gear

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