December 27, 2013

The government of South Sudan agreed today to an immediate cease-fire with rebels, announced East African leaders meeting in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. The leaders called on rebel leader Riek Machar to “make similar commitments.”

The fighting erupted in Juba, the South Sudanese capital, on December 18 between  Dinka and Nuer factions within the South Sudanese army. The violence was fueled by a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and Machar, the former vice president, who is of the Nuer ethnic group. President Kiir blamed the violence on Machar, whom Kiir dismissed as vice president in July. After being removed from office, Machar accused Kiir of making himself a dictator. Ethnic violence quickly spread throughout the country, and an estimated 1,000 people have been killed and 100,000 others have been displaced from their homes.

Fighting in South Sudan mainly involved the Nuer and the Dinka ethnic groups and their leaders. (World Book map)

The United Nations (UN) Security Council has voted to nearly double the number of UN peacekeepers in South Sudan to 12,500. Nevertheless, UN officials continue to fear that the ethnic violence in South Sudan may dissolve into a full-blown civil war.

Additional World Book articles:

• Sudan 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Sudan 2012 (a Back in Time article)