Egypt, under the rule of KhediveIsma'il Pasha, first attempted to colonise the region in the 1870s, establishing the province of Equatoria in the southern portion. Egypt's first governor was Samuel Baker, commissioned in 1869, followed by Charles George Gordon in 1874 and by Emin Pasha in 1878. The Mahdist War of the 1880s destabilised the nascent province, and Equatoria ceased to exist as an Egyptian outpost in 1889. Important settlements in Equatoria included Lado, Gondokoro, Dufile and Wadelai. In 1947, British hopes to join the southern part of Sudan with Uganda were dashed by the Juba Conference, to unify northern and southern Sudan.
Civil war
The region was affected by two civil wars since Sudanese independence – the Sudanese government fought the Anyanya rebel army from 1955 to 1972 in the First Sudanese Civil War and then SPLA/M in the Second Sudanese Civil War for almost twenty-one years after the founding of SPLA/M in 1983 – resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructural development, and major destruction and displacement. More than 2.5 million people were killed, and more than 5 million were externally displaced while others have been internally displaced, becoming refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts.
Peace agreement and autonomy
On 9 January 2005, a peace treaty was signed in Nairobi, Kenya, ending the Second Sudanese Civil War and reestablishing Southern autonomy.[3]John Garang, then leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, feted the treaty, predicting, "This peace agreement will change Sudan forever."[4] The treaty provided for a referendum on South Sudanese independence to be held on 9 January 2011, six years after the original signing. It also divided oil income evenly between the North and the South.
Use of sharia law continued in the Muslim-majority North, while in Southern Sudan, its authority was devolved to the elected assembly. Southern Sudan ultimately rejected implementation of sharia law.[5] In late 2010, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced that if Southern Sudan voted for independence, Sudan would fully adopt sharia as the basis for law.[6]
President Salva Kiir Mayardit and the SPLA disputed the results of the 2008 Sudanese census, which claimed Southern Sudan accounted for 21 percent of the population. The SPLA insisted that Southern Sudan included closer to one-third of the national population and that Southern Sudanese had been undercounted.[7]
A referendum on independence for Southern Sudan was held from 9–15 January 2011. Preliminary results released by the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission on 30 January 2011 indicate that 98% of voters selected the "separation" option, with 1% selecting "unity".[8] Southern Sudan became an independent country on 9 July 2011, a date set by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.[9] On 31 January 2011, Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha stated the Sudanese Government's "acceptance" of the referendum results.[10] On 23 January 2011, members of a steering committee on post-independence governing told reporters that upon independence the land would be named the Republic of South Sudan "out of familiarity and convenience." Other names that had been considered were Azania, Nile Republic, Kush Republic and even Juwama, a portmanteau for Juba, Wau and Malakal, three major cities.[11]
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement led to the promulgation of an Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan [12] which established the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan headed by a President. The President was Head of Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army. John Garang, the founder of the SPLA/M was the first President until his death on 30 July 2005. Salva Kiir Mayärdït, his deputy, was sworn in as First Vice President of Sudan and President of the Southern Sudan on 11 August 2005. Riek Machar replaced him as Vice-President. Legislative power is vested in the government and the unicameral Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly. The Constitution also provided for an independent judiciary, the highest organ being the Supreme Court.
The ten states were further subdivided into 86 counties.
Abyei Area
Abyei is a region located on the border between southern Sudan and northern Sudan that is claimed by both sides. The region was to hold a referendum on joining the south or remaining part of the north at the same time as the southern independence referendum but this was postponed. As part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, an Abyei Area Administration was established on 31 August 2008.[13]
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