South Sudan

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

• plains in the north and center rise 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;
• 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

agricultural land:

100%;

• arable land 0%;
• permanent crops 0%;
• permanent pasture 100%

forest:

0%

other:

0%

• landlocked;
• The Sudd is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile, comprising more than 15% of the country's total area;
• it is one of the world's largest wetlands

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 (2016)

conventional long form:

Republic of South Sudan

conventional short form:

South Sudan

etymology:

• self-descriptive name from the country's former position within Sudan prior to independence;
• the name "Sudan" derives from the Arabic "bilad-as-sudan" meaning "Land of the Black [peoples]"

name:

Juba

geographic coordinates:

04 51 N 31 37 E

time difference:

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

history:

previous 2005 (preindependence); latest signed 7 July 2011, effective 9 July 2011 (Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011)

amendments:

• proposed by the National Legislature or by the president of the republic;
• passage requires submission of the proposal to the Legislature at least one month prior to consideration, approval by at least two-thirds majority vote in both houses of the Legislature, and assent by the president;
• amended 2013, 2015 (2017)

citizenship by birth:

no

citizenship by descent only:

at least one parent must be a citizen of South Sudan

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

10 years

chief of state:

• President Salva KIIR Mayardit (since 9 July 2011);
• First Vice President Taban Deng GAI (since 26 July 2016);
• Second Vice President James Wani IGGA (since 26 April 2016);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

• President Salva KIIR Mayardit (since 9 July 2011);
• First Vice President Taban Deng GAI (since 26 July 2016);
• Second Vice President James Wani IGGA (since 26 April 2016)

cabinet:

National Council of Ministers appointed by the president, approved by the Transitional National Legislative Assembly

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 11-15 April 2010 (the next election has been postponed from 2015 to 2018 due to instability and violence)

election results:

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

description:

bicameral National Legislature consists of the Council of States, established by presidential decree in August 2011 (50 seats; 20 former members of the Council of States and 30 appointed representatives) and the Transitional National Legislative Assembly, established on 4 August 2016, in accordance with the August 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (400 seats; 170 members elected in April 2010, 96 members of the former National Assembly, 66 members appointed after independence, and 68 members added as a result of the 2016 Agreement)

elections:

• National Legislative Assembly - last held 11-15 April 2010 but did not take office until July 2011;
• because of political instability, current parliamentary term extended until next election on 9 July 2018);
• Council of States - established and members appointed 1 August 2011

election results:

• Council of States - percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - SPLM 20, unknown 30;
• National Legislative Assembly - percent of vote by party - NA;
• seats by party - SPLM 251, SPLM-DC 6, DCP 4, independent 6, unknown 65

highest court(s):

Supreme Court of South Sudan (consists of the chief and deputy chief justices, 9 other justices and normally organized into panels of 3 justices except when sitting as a Constitutional panel of all 9 justices chaired by the chief justice)

judge selection and term of office:

• justices appointed by the president upon proposal of the Judicial Service Council, a 9-member judicial and administrative body;
• justice tenure set by the National Legislature

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]
• Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Movement or SPLM-DC [Lam AKOL, chairman]
• Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition or SPLM-IO [Riek MACHAR Teny Dhurgon]
• Democratic Change or DC [Onyoti Adigo NYIKWEC] (formerly SPLM-DC)

chief of mission:

Ambassador Garang Diing AKUONG (since 23 February 2015)

chancery:

1015 31st St., NW, Third Floor, Washington, DC, 20007

telephone:

[1] (202) 293-7940

FAX:

[1] (202) 293-7941

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Michael K. MORROW (since 22 August 2017)

embassy:

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; anthem selected in a national contest

general assessment:

• one of the least developed telecommunications and Internet systems in the world;
• domestic mobile providers are waiting for a political settlement and the return of social stablility in order to expand their networks

international:

country code - 211 (2016)

• 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 agreements in March 2012 and August 2015 that included the demobilization of all child soldiers within the armed forces and opposition, but the recruitment of child soldiers by the warring parties continues;
• as of the end of 2016, UNICEF estimates that more than 17,000 child soldiers had been used in the country's civil war since it began in December 2013 (2016)

• 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):

257,892 (Sudan) (refugees and asylum seekers); 14,858 (Democratic Republic of the Congo) (refugees and asylum seekers) (2017)

IDPs:

1.87 million (alleged coup attempt and ethnic conflict beginning in December 2013; 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) (2017)

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, orphaned, refugees, or from rural areas, are vulnerable to forced labor and sexual exploitation, often in urban centers;
• children may be victims of forced labor in construction, market vending, shoe shining, car washing, rock breaking, brick making, delivery cart pulling, and begging;
• girls are also forced into marriages and subsequently subjected to sexual slavery or domestic servitude;
• women and girls migrate willingly from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to South Sudan with the promise of legitimate jobs and are forced into the sex trade;
• inter-ethnic abductions and abductions by criminal groups continue, with abductees subsequently forced into domestic servitude, herding, or sex trafficking;
• in 2014, the recruitment and use of child soldiers increased significantly within government security forces and was also prevalent among opposition forces

tier rating:

• Tier 3 – South Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• despite the government’s formal recommitment to an action plan to eliminate the recruitment and use of child soldiers by 2016, the practice expanded during 2014, and the government did not hold any officers criminally responsible;
• government officials reportedly are complicit in trafficking offenses but these activities continue to go uninvestigated;
• authorities reportedly identified five trafficking victims but did not transfer them to care facilities;
• law enforcement continued to arrest and imprison individuals for prostitution, including trafficking victims;
• no known steps were taken to address the exploitation of South Sudanese nationals working abroad or foreign workers in South Sudan (2015)