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Second Sudanese Civil War: A Visual History

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Twenty-two years of war between Khartoum and the southern SPLA, two million dead, and the birth of South Sudan.

Fought
1983 to 2005
Duration
22 years
Dates
1983 to 2005
Deaths
About 2 million, mostly civilians from famine and disease
Government
Sudan under Nimeiri, Sadiq al-Mahdi, al-Bashir; murahaleen and PDF militias
Rebels
SPLM/A under John Garang; Nasir faction; allied northern opposition
Result
Comprehensive Peace Agreement; South Sudanese independence 2011

The Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005) began when President Nimeiri broke the Addis Ababa Agreement, imposed sharia and dissolved southern autonomy, and Colonel John Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army rose in the south. Fighting spread to the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile; Omar al-Bashir's Islamist regime from 1989 used militias, aerial bombing and famine as weapons, and the SPLA split violently in 1991. Oil discoveries raised the stakes. About 2 million people died, mostly from famine and disease, and 4 million were displaced. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005 gave the south autonomy and a referendum; Garang died in a helicopter crash months later, and South Sudan voted for independence in 2011.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Second Sudanese Civil War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

14001500160017001800190020002100Second Sudanese Civil War (1983 to 2005)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: Mahdist WarMahdist War (1881 to 1899)Open: Italian EmpireItalian Empire (1882 to 1947)Open: Nazi GermanyNazi Germany (1933 to 1945)Open: First Sudanese Civil WarFirst Sudanese Civil War (1955 to 1972)Open: Ethiopian Civil War and Eritrean War of IndependenceEthiopian Civil War and Eritrean War of Independence (1961 to 1991)Open: Uganda-Tanzania War and Ugandan Bush WarUganda-Tanzania War and Ugandan Bush War (1978 to 1986)Open: War in DarfurWar in Darfur (2003 to present)Open: South Sudanese Civil WarSouth Sudanese Civil War (2013 to 2020)

Estimated deaths by cause

01000200030004000Combat: 200200CombatFamine and disease: 17001700Famine and diseaseDisplaced persons: 40004000Displaced personsthousands (approximate)

Timeline of the Second Sudanese Civil War

  1. 1983
    Sharia imposed; Bor mutiny; SPLA founded
  2. 1988
    Bahr el Ghazal famine
  3. 1989
    Al-Bashir's coup
  4. 1991
    SPLA split; Bor massacre
  5. 1999
    Oil exports begin
  6. 2002
    Machakos Protocol
  7. 2005
    Comprehensive Peace Agreement; Garang dies
  8. 2011
    South Sudan independent

Origins

The 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement had ended the first civil war with southern autonomy. Nimeiri redrew the region, moved to exploit oil found at Bentiu, and in September 1983 imposed sharia nationwide. Southern troops mutinied at Bor in May 1983 and Garang, sent to suppress them, joined them and founded the SPLA with Ethiopian backing, calling for a united secular 'New Sudan'.

Al-Bashir and famine

Nimeiri fell in 1985; the elected Sadiq al-Mahdi armed Baggara Arab militias that raided Dinka villages for cattle and slaves. Al-Bashir's coup of 1989, guided by the Islamist Hassan al-Turabi, declared jihad. The 1988 famine in Bahr el Ghazal killed 250,000; the 1998 famine another 70,000. Operation Lifeline Sudan flew food into the south from 1989. The SPLA lost its Ethiopian base when Mengistu fell in 1991, and Riek Machar's Nasir faction split away, leading to the Bor massacre of Dinka civilians. Antonov bombers targeted markets and hospitals.

Oil and peace

Oil exports began in 1999 through a Chinese-built pipeline, financing helicopter gunships and prompting the clearing of villages around the fields. Post-9/11 US pressure and Kenyan-led IGAD mediation produced the Machakos Protocol (2002) and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed at Naivasha on 9 January 2005: a six-year interim period, wealth-sharing and a referendum. Garang became first vice-president and died in a crash in July 2005; Salva Kiir succeeded him. In January 2011 the south voted 98.8 percent for independence, declared on 9 July 2011.

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8 surprising things about the Second Sudanese Civil War

  1. The war is one of the longest civil wars in modern African history and by some counts the deadliest since World War II before the Congo.
  2. The 'Lost Boys of Sudan', some 20,000 children who walked to Ethiopia and Kenya, became famous when 3,800 were resettled in the US.
  3. Slave raids by Baggara militias revived the Sudanese slave trade; abolitionist groups bought back thousands.
  4. John Garang held a doctorate in agricultural economics from Iowa State University.
  5. The Nuba Mountains, in the north, fought with the SPLA and were left out of the peace deal, leading to renewed war in 2011.
  6. Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum from 1991 to 1996 as a guest of the Islamist regime.
  7. The peace deal's oil-sharing formula gave the south half the revenue from southern fields, the biggest such transfer in Africa.
  8. South Sudan, born from the war, fell into its own civil war within two and a half years.

Sources

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