South Sudan Packages/Deals & Travel Agents Near Me

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011 as the outcome of a 2005 peace deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.

Formed from the 10 southern-most states of Sudan, The Republic of South Sudan is Texas-sized. It is made up of expansive grassland, swamps and tropical rain forest straddling both banks of the White Nile. It is highly diverse ethnically and linguistically. Among the largest of the 200 ethnic groups represented are the Dinka, Nuer and Shilluk.

Unlike the predominantly Muslim population of Sudan, the more than 12 million people of South Sudan follow traditional and humanist religions, while a minority is Christian.

South Sudan is one of the least developed regions in the world, where an estimated 75% of the population is illiterate. Oil earnings account for the vast majority of the country's budget but reserves of mineral-rich deposits also help grow the economy.

Vast tracts of arable land in the south are ripe for commercial agriculture although watchdog groups have warned of the risk of "land-grabbing" by foreign investors because of the lack of regulation.

Because South Sudan sits in the equatorial zone, it has the possibility of becoming an eco-tourism gem. There are untouched national parks, lakes and the swamplands of the White Nile which attract wildlife and game in huge numbers. The Boma National Park experiences a migration of water buffalo, antelope and zebras larger than the migration in the Serengeti, potentially making it one of the largest land migrations on Earth.

This relatively new nation, however, faces many challenges and has some way to go to provide a secure and stable environment within its borders.

History

South Sudan gained independence from joint British and Egyptian rule as part of Sudan in 1956. But even before then, in 1955, the country had descended into an internal north-south conflict, which southerners linked to unequal colonial policies over more than a century of British-Egyptian rule.

The first southern rebellion against Sudan's Arab-ruled north burned from 1962 to 1972 and resulted in a peace deal that largely did not satisfy the south's desire for autonomy. War between north and south resumed in 1983, when the Sudan People's Liberation Army launched a violent struggle that lasted until 2005. The fighting claimed more than two million lives and forced an estimated four million southerners to flee their homes.

An internationally-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement called for a six-year interim period in which a semiautonomous government would rule the south until a January 2011 self-determination vote. The referendum passed nearly unanimously in favor of secession.