Civil War in a Nascent State: A Case Study on South Sudan

Abstract

Anarchy and severe subsidence of law and order is not a new phenomenon for a newly emerged country, especially those with a long history of civil war.  Counter revolutions or the power struggle of the leaders may cause a complete disaster in the post-liberation period. But woes and sufferings of the South Sudanese people perhaps reach beyond all the precedence. The central East African country South Sudan seceded from the Khartoum regime on July 9, 2011. Before that, they have embroiled in civil war for many decades. Independence arrived with new hope and dreams, but all went in vain when in 2013, the scar of the civil war was reopened. Within a few years 400000 south Sudanese have been killed and another 4 million people displaced from their homes. At this time, several peace deals have been signed and also violated repeatedly. This article examines the nature of the post-liberation crisis in South Sudan and tries to understand whether the conflict erupted from the mere power struggle of Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leaders or any other deep-rooted causes behind the violence