South Sudan

• hot with seasonal rainfall influenced by the annual shift of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone;
• rainfall is heaviest in the upland areas of the south and diminishes to the north

• the terrain gradually rises from plains in the north and center to southern highlands along the border with Uganda and Kenya;
• the White Nile, flowing north out of the uplands of Central Africa, is the major geographic feature of the country supporting agriculture and extensive wild animal populations;
• The Sudd (a name derived from floating vegetation that hinders navigation) is a large swampy area of more than 100,000 sq km fed by the waters of the White Nile that dominates the center of the country

noun:

South Sudanese (singular and plural)

adjective:

South Sudanese

degree of risk:

very high

food or waterborne disease:

bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A and E, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease:

malaria, dengue fever, trypanosomiasis-Gambiense (African sleeping sickness)

water contact disease:

schistosomiasis

respiratory disease:

meningococcal meningitis

animal contact disease:

rabies (2013)

conventional long form:

Republic of South Sudan

conventional short form:

South Sudan

name:

Juba

geographic coordinates:

04 51 N 31 37 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

• previous 2005 (preindependence);
• latest signed 7 July 2011 (Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011);
• note - in January 2013, the mandate of the South Sudan National Constitutional Review Commission to address additional constitutional amendments was extended (2013)

chief of state:

• President Salva KIIR Mayardit (since 9 July 2011);
• Vice President James Wani IGGA (since 23 August 2013);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Salva KIIR Mayardit (since 9 July 2011); Vice President James Wani IGGA (since 23 August 2013)

cabinet:

National Council of Ministers; appointed by the president and approved by a resolution from the Legislative Assembly; (For more information visit theWorld Leaders website)

elections:

president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held on 11-15 April 2010 (next to be held in 2015)

election results:

Salva KIIR Mayardit elected president; percent of vote - Salva KIIR Mayardit 93%, Lam AKOL 7%

highest court(s):

Supreme Court of South Sudan (consists 7 justices including the court president and deputy president and organized into panels of 3 justices except when sitting as a Constitutional panel of all 7 justices)

judge selection and term of office:

judges appointed by the president upon proposal of the Judicial Service Council, a 9-member judicial and administrative body; judge tenure NA

subordinate courts:

national level:

• Courts of Appeal;
• High Courts;
• County Courts;
• state level: High Courts;
• County Courts;
• customary courts;
• other specialized courts and tribunals

• Sudan People's Liberation Movement or SPLM [Salva KIIR Mayardit]
• National Congress Party or NCP
• Sudan People's Liberation Movement for Democratic Change or SPLM-DC [Sisto OLUR Erista]

chief of mission:

Ambassador Akec KHOC Aciew Khoc (since 24 July 2012)

chancery:

1233 20th St. NW, Suite 602, Washington, DC 20036

telephone:

[1] (202) 293-7940

FAX:

[1] (202) 293-7941

chief of mission:

Ambassador Susan D. PAGE (since 18 October 2011)

embassy:

located on Kololo Road adjacent to the EU's compound, Juba

telephone:

[211] (0) 912-105-188

• three equal horizontal bands of black (top), red, and green;
• the red band is edged in white;
• a blue isosceles triangle based on the hoist side contains a gold, five-pointed star;
• black represents the people of South Sudan, red the blood shed in the struggle for freedom, green the verdant land, and blue the waters of the Nile;
• the gold star represents the unity of the states making up South Sudan

note: resembles the flag of Kenya; one of only two national flags to display six colors as part of its primary design, the other is South Africa's

name:

South Sudan Oyee! (Hooray!)

lyrics/music:

collective of 49 poets/Juba University students and teachers

note: adopted 2011; the anthem was selected in a national contest

• TV is controlled by the government;
• several private FM stations are operational in South Sudan;
• some foreign radio broadcasts are available

• 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory and voluntary military service;
• the Government of South Sudan signed a revised action plan with the UN in March 2012 to demobilize all child soldiers within the SPLA;
• UNICEF reported 250 confirmed cases of the SPLA's association with children at the end of 2012 (2012)

• South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation;
• final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan;
• periodic violent skirmishes with South Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic;
• the boundary that separates Kenya and South Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times

refugees (country of origin):

• 206,243 (Sudan);
• 13,925 (Democratic Republic of the Congo);
• 5,890 (Ethiopia) (2013)

IDPs:

243,000 (information is lacking on those displaced in earlier years by: fighting in Abyei between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in May 2011; clashes between the SPLA and dissident militia groups in South Sudan; inter-ethnic conflicts over resources and cattle; attacks from the Lord's Resistance Army; floods and drought)

current situation:

• South Sudan is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• South Sudanese women and girls, particularly those who are internally displaced or from rural areas, are vulnerable to forced labor and sexual exploitation in urban centers;
• the rising number of street children and child laborers are also exploited for forced labor and prostitution;
• women and girls from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Democratic Republic of the Congo are trafficked to South Sudan with promises of legitimate jobs and are forced into the sex trade;
• inter-ethnic abductions continue in some communities in South Sudan

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - South Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;
• however, it is making significant efforts to do so;
• the government has made progress in implementing its UN-backed action plan to eliminate the use of child soldiers in its armed forces, but it has not demonstrated evidence of increasing efforts to address other forms of trafficking;
• the government has not taken steps to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations and has not deployed a system to transfer victims to organizations to receive care;
• the government continues to indiscriminately arrest individuals in prostitution, including child sex trafficking victims, and sentence them to prison (2013)