HistoryMemes.com

Making Sense of History

South Sudanese Civil War: A Visual History

Get My 10 Best History Memes:

Visual history of a war

Two and a half years after independence, the world's newest state fell into a war between its president and vice-president that killed 400,000 and starved millions.

Fought
2013 to 2020
Duration
7 years
Dates
15 December 2013 to 22 February 2020
Deaths
About 400,000 (LSHTM estimate), half from violence, half from disease and hunger; 4 million displaced
Government
Salva Kiir; SPLA; Uganda; Mathiang Anyoor militia
Opposition
Riek Machar's SPLM-IO; Nuer White Army; other armed groups; Sudan's covert support
Result
Revitalised peace agreement; unity government; fragile peace

The South Sudanese Civil War (2013-2020) broke out on 15 December 2013 when fighting between Dinka and Nuer soldiers of the presidential guard in Juba escalated into President Salva Kiir's accusation that his sacked deputy Riek Machar had attempted a coup. Machar's SPLM-in-Opposition took Bor, Bentiu and Malakal; Ugandan troops saved Juba; massacres and mass rape followed on ethnic lines, and famine was declared in 2017. Peace deals in 2015 and 2018 were broken and revived; a unity government with Machar as vice-president took office in February 2020. About 400,000 died and 4 million were displaced; the peace has held uneasily amid delayed elections and renewed clashes.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is South 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.

15501600165017001750180018501900195020002050South Sudanese Civil War (2013 to 2020)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)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: Second Sudanese Civil WarSecond Sudanese Civil War (1983 to 2005)Open: Somali Civil WarSomali Civil War (1991 to present)Open: War in DarfurWar in Darfur (2003 to present)

Estimated excess deaths by year

02550751002014: 909020142015: 606020152016: 909020162017: 10010020172018: 40402018thousands (LSHTM study, approximate)

Timeline of the South Sudanese Civil War

  1. 2011
    South Sudan independent
  2. 2013
    Juba fighting; war begins15 December.
  3. 2014
    Bentiu and Bor massacres
  4. 2015
    First peace agreement
  5. 2016
    Juba palace clashes; Machar flees
  6. 2017
    Famine declared
  7. 2018
    Revitalised Agreement
  8. 2020
    Unity government formed

Juba, December 2013

South Sudan's ruling SPLM split as Kiir dismissed Machar and the cabinet in July 2013. When Nuer guards refused to be disarmed on the night of 15 December, Dinka soldiers went house to house killing Nuer civilians in Juba; Nuer commanders defected with their units and Machar fled to lead a rebellion. The White Army of Nuer youth took Bor and massacred Dinka; Bentiu changed hands with atrocities on both sides; Ugandan forces and Sudanese rebels held the capital and oilfields.

Broken agreements

IGAD-mediated talks produced the August 2015 agreement under which Machar returned to Juba as vice-president in April 2016; in July his guards and Kiir's fought at the palace and Machar fled on foot to Congo. Fighting spread to the Equatorias, previously peaceful, with ethnic cleansing of Equatorians and the flight of a million refugees to Uganda. In February 2017 the UN declared famine in Unity state, the first anywhere in six years; aid workers were killed at record rates and the government blocked access.

Revitalised peace

Sudan's Bashir, seeking oil transit revenue, brought Kiir and Machar to Khartoum; the Revitalised Agreement of September 2018 provided a ceasefire, unified forces and a transitional government, delayed twice until Machar was sworn in again on 22 February 2020. Elections have been postponed repeatedly, the unified army barely exists, and clashes in Upper Nile and Machar's house arrest in 2025 raised fears of relapse; Sudan's own war since 2023 has cut oil exports and flooded the country with refugees.

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

Wars of the same era and region

8 surprising things about the South Sudanese Civil War

  1. South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 with 99 percent voting yes and fell into civil war 29 months later.
  2. The Bentiu mosque and hospital massacres of April 2014 killed hundreds who had sheltered there.
  3. UN bases became 'protection of civilians' sites housing 200,000 people for years, a first for peacekeeping.
  4. Uganda's Cambodian-style intervention in December 2013 is credited with saving Juba for Kiir.
  5. The 2017 famine was the first officially declared anywhere since Somalia in 2011.
  6. Salva Kiir's cowboy hat was a gift from George W. Bush.
  7. South Sudan has fewer than 300 km of paved road, making both war and relief a matter of the dry season.
  8. The refugee flow into Uganda in 2016-2017 created Bidi Bidi, then the world's largest refugee settlement.

Sources

Back to all empires and wars