History

South Sudan achieved independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011. The South Sudanese people elected Salva Kiir Mayardit, a Dinka (the majority ethnic group), as the President, and Riek Machar, a Nuer (a minority ethnic group), as the Vice President. During the first two years of independence, South Sudan made little progress toward stability. Peace was short-lived due to rising corruption, wealth disparity, and ethnic polarization fueled by leaders’ attempts to consolidate power.

The catalyst for the South Sudanese Civil War occurred in July 2013, when President Kiir dismissed a majority of government officials, including Vice President Machar. The next morning, President Kiir deployed his personal army, the Tiger Guards, to identify and mark Nuer areas in the capital city of Juba. In December President Kiir accused Machar of attempting a coup d’etat. The next three days government troops and President Kiir’s Tiger Guards went to those previously marked locations and killed Nuers. They killed anyone who had Nuer scarring or if they could not speak any Dinka languages. The government forces rounded up hundreds and more than 600 people were killed in Juba in the first three days of the war. Once the word of what happened in Juba reached rebel groups in rural areas of the country, fighting erupted and with it, a slew of mass atrocities occurred. The crisis was labeled a genocide and war crimes ran rampant with the lack of government control.

The civil war in South Sudan ended in February of 2020 when Machar was reinstated as Vice President. Unfortunately, there are ongoing reports of violence, and the threat of peace unraveling persists. The civil war killed 400,000 people and created 2.5 million refugees and 4 million internally displaced persons. The violence also caused food insecurity for 7.7 million people and left 2.8 million children without access to education. Pure Joy Foundation is one of the few organizations that did not pull support from the South Sudanese people. In fact, we increased our scope to continue supporting the refugees in Uganda.