On 9 July 2011, South Sudan formally became independent.
In doing so, it not only ended one of the longest running civil wars in Africa, it also became
one of the very few examples of successful secession in modern international politics.
So, how did it happen?
Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel, my name is James Ker-Lindsay and here I take an
informed look at international relations, conflicts and the origins of countries.
If there's one theme that I often discuss,
it's the extreme difficulty faced by territories seeking independence.
In most cases, a secessionist campaign ultimately fails.
Sometimes, it'll be defeated militarily.
In other cases, the leaders will eventually sue for peace and accept some form of autonomy,
ranging from greater cultural rights to a federal or even confederal arrangement.
Occasionally, a territory might achieve a halfway house and become a de facto state - independent
from the state it's broken away, from but largely or wholly unrecognized on the international stage.
However, and very rarely, an independence movement will succeed and become a sovereign
state universally recognised by the wider international community.
One of the most interesting examples in recent decades was South Sudan.
Just days after it declared independence, in July 2011,
it joined the United Nations, becoming the 193rd member of the organisation.
But its path towards statehood was anything but easy.
In fact, it only managed to become a country at the end of what was Africa's longest civil war.
South Sudan lies in East Africa.
Landlocked it's surrounded by Ethiopia to its east; Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic
Republic of Congo to its south; and the Central African Republic to its west.
To its north lies Sudan.
At around 650,000 square kilometres, or 250,000 square miles,
it's very slightly larger than France and is the 41st largest of the 193 UN members.
Its population is currently estimated to be in the region of 11 million people,
which puts it in 83rd place.
Highly diverse, with over 60 different groups, the largest communities of the Dinka which
represents around 35 percent of the population, and the Nuer, representing around 15 percent.
Most of the population are Catholic or Anglican Christian or follow local religions.
Although the region has a long and rich history, the story really begins in the first
half of the 19th century when the Ottoman Empire, operating with an Egyptian army,
pressed southwards establishing control over what would become modern-day Sudan.
However, in 1881 an uprising saw the territory eventually fall
under the control of a local islamic leader - Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi.
Fearing that the movement could spread north into Egypt - thus putting at risk the newly
built Suez Canal and destabilising Anglo-French colonial holdings in North Africa and the Middle
East - Britain sent in a well-armed force and imposed control over the territory.
This led to joint Anglo-Egyptian rule over Sudan.
But while Egypt was formally regarded as the sovereign power,
by the end of the 1920s the territory was effectively ruled by Britain.
Crucially though, Sudan was essentially two
very different territories under a single colonial roof.
While the six northern provinces, which accounted for around three quarters of the population,
were overwhelmingly Arab and Muslim, the three
southern provinces were made up of various sub-saharan tribes that followed local
religions but had become increasingly Christian through missionary activity.
Following the end of the Second World War and the start of decolonisation,
a debate emerged about Sudan's future.
In the north, opinion was divided between those who wanted union with Egypt
and those who wanted independence.
However, this changed after the overthrow of the pro-unification Egyptian king in 1952.
The new military-led government in Cairo, which espoused secular anti-colonial pan-Arabism,
distanced itself from the previous unification policy,
thus clearing the way for Sudanese independence.
Although southern leaders agreed in principle to a united and independent Sudan,
they also wanted to make sure that their voice would be heard.
In 1954, they called for extensive autonomy under a federal structure;
arguing that if this was not granted they should be given the right of independence.
As Britain prepared to pull out, tensions started to grow between
the north and the south and in July 1955 riots broke out in the south.
Fearing the spread of fighting, Britain hastened its departure.
On 1 January 1956, the Republic of Sudan became independent,
joining the UN around 11 months later, in November that year.
In the years that followed, tensions increased as
the north sought to exert its political and cultural influence over the south.
As a result, a southern insurgency emerged.
At first, the north clearly had the upper hand.
However, by the end of the 1960s the disparate southern forces started to come together.
More importantly, they began to receive funding and military support from Israel,
which was growing increasingly concerned about
Sudan's growing relationship with its then arch-foe, Egypt.
The conflict eventually came to an end
in February 1972 when the World Council of Churches mediated a peace deal.
Under the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement, the southern provinces
would become a unified autonomous region with its own legislature an executive.
It was also agreed that English,
rather than Arabic, would be the official language in the south.
While the agreement appeared to end the conflict, in truth little changed.
The north still continued to dominate the south.
Meanwhile, other pressures began to emerge.
The discovery of oil reserves along the border between northern and southern Sudan
proved to be a major source of contention, as did growing Islamic sentiment in the north.
In September 1983, the president of Sudan, Jafaar Nimeiry, unilaterally abrogated the
Addis Ababa Agreement and declared Sudan to be a unitary Islamic state under sharia law.
This sparked what became known as the Second Sudanese Civil War.
This time, the south was far better prepared.
The Sudan People's Liberation Army, the SPLA - under the command of John Garang,
a US-trained military officer with a PhD in agricultural economics and supported by
neighbouring Ethiopia - quickly took control of most of the rural areas of the south.
Although these initial successes were reversed following the fall of the
Ethiopian government in 1991, which saw the SPLA lose its key benefactor,
by the end of the decade the tide has started to turn once again in the south's favour.
By the turn of the millennium, the sides were again tiring of fighting.
Over the course of the 22 years it eventually lasted,
the Second Civil War cost the lives of over 2 million people,
either directly through fighting or indirectly through several major famines.
It was also becoming an ever greater drain on the north's financial resources and oil revenues.
Finally, the north which had been repeatedly accused of harbouring Islamic terrorists
was becoming increasingly worried that it might now be the next target for the United
States as it sought to challenge islamic extremism following 9/11.
Such fears were also heightened by the fact that the South's cause
was increasingly supported by US evangelical christians.
Between 2002 and 2004, and with active US support,
intense negotiations were held between the two sides in neighbouring Kenya.
On 9 January 2005, at a ceremony attended by senior international officials,
the Sudanese Government and the SPLA signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,
thereby bringing the Second Civil War to an end.
While putting in place southern autonomy, and promoting the "attractiveness" of a united Sudan,
the peace agreement also included a provision for the people of South Sudan
to hold an internationally monitored referendum after six years to either
confirm the arrangements put in place under the plan or to vote for secession.
As agreed, the referendum was held on the 9-15 January 2011.
On 7 February, the final results were announced.
Of the total 3.85 million votes cast - a 98 percent turnout - an overwhelming
98.83 percent voted for independent statehood.
On 9 July 2011, South Sudan formally declared independence.
In a hugely symbolic step, the first country to recognise that independence was Sudan.
Meanwhile, just five days later, it became a full member of the United Nations,
assuming its place as the organisation's 193rd member, on 14 July 2011.
When South Sudan became independent, in 2011, it became one of the exceedingly rare
examples of a successful secession in modern international relations.
Indeed - and leaving aside the cases of Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet
Union in the early 1990s, which many observers classed as examples of state dissolution,
rather than formal secession - the only previous cases of formal successful secession
were Eritrea, which joined the UN in 1993, and then Bangladesh, which became a member in 1974.
In the example of South Sudan, the case for independence was always clear.
Having been incorporated into the vast Anglo-Egyptian territory of Sudan in the
19th century, the southern regions always stood apart from the north:
ethnically, religiously and even administratively.
And yet, as is often the case, at the time of independence there
was an expectation that the colonial boundaries would simply be retained,
thereby keeping the south within a state in which it would always be marginalised.
Despite this, there did appear to be a willingness amongst southern leaders to
accept its place within an independent Sudan, if it had been granted a degree of autonomy.
It was only when it became clear that this wouldn't happen,
and that Britain packed up and fled the emerging mess, that a full-scale civil war emerged.
And although this ended with an agreement on autonomy,
this was later abrogated and fighting resumed.
Ultimately, it was the combination of fatigue,
cost, external pressure and a willingness to acknowledge the separate nature of the South
that eventually saw Sudan accept a peace deal that paved the way for the South's independence.
And yet, for all the jubilation and celebration that greeted the South's independence,
there's a bitter end to this story.
A decade on, South Sudan has become the world's newest failed state - a
story I hope to return to in a future video.
I hope you found that interesting. If so, here are some more videos that you might like.
Thanks so much for watching and see you in the next video.