When did the crisis start?
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in July 2011, but the hard-won celebration was short-lived. The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, the ruling political party that originally led the way for independence, is now divided and fighting for power.
In December 2013, political infighting erupted into violence in the streets of the capital, Juba, after South Sudan’s president accused his vice president of an attempted coup. Fighting between the two factions of government forces loyal to each soon moved to Bor, and then to Bentiu.
Violence spread across the young nation like wildfire, displacing 413,000 civilians in just the first month of conflict. Tens of thousands of civilians rushed to seek refuge in U.N. bases that were subsequently turned into makeshift displacement camps.
The fighting has continued, becoming increasingly brutal and affecting nearly the entire country.
What’s going on now?
A handful of peace agreements have been signed over the course of the war — the most recent in August 2015 — but they have been repeatedly violated. The situation remains highly unstable.
While some regions have recently become slightly less volatile, allowing people to move around fairly freely and return to their homes, violent outbreaks are still occurring throughout the country.
In February 2016, the U.N. displacement site in Malakal was attacked, killing 25 people and wounding over 120 more. Regions that previously had been relatively safe from clashes have experienced assaults over the past several weeks.
And, most recently, a fresh wave of violence erupted in Juba starting July 8, 2016, just one day before the country’s five-year anniversary of independence. The clashes killed more than 300 people over the course of a few days and could push the young nation back into deep chaos.
On top of these unpredictable attacks, the country’s economy is in crisis — the South Sudanese pound has declined in value, and the cost of goods and services has skyrocketed. Food prices are at a record high.
What’s happening to people in South Sudan?
Since the conflict began, 1 in 5 people in South Sudan have been displaced. More than 2.3 million citizens have been forced to flee their homes. Just over 720,000 people have escaped to neighboring countries in search of safety, but most are trapped inside the warring nation.
Those who’ve run have lost loved ones and their homes, their land and their livelihoods. Violence toward civilians has been widespread, including targeted attacks, kidnappings and murders. And assaults on aid convoys and looting of supplies have become increasingly common, making it difficult — and dangerous — to reach in-need families with the support they need to survive.
In the country’s most conflict-ridden areas, 70 percent of schools have been closed due to the fighting. Nationwide, hundreds of thousands of young ones are facing an uncertain future.
“I worry about my children. I don’t know when this war will stop,” says Mary. “There is no good news. There is only talk of fighting and attacks. The children have no food to eat. The children have no school to go to. Our children are becoming soldiers.”
Across the country, children can’t learn, people can’t work, farmers can’t plant — all they can do is hope to survive until there is an end to the vicious fighting.
How bad is the food crisis?
A massive humanitarian effort helped prevent widespread famine in 2014, but the situation is desperate again. Ongoing violence continues to keep people from their homes, damage markets and disrupt planting, all of which keeps families from getting the food they need to survive.
Around 6 million people are currently at risk of going hungry.
Why did the humanitarian situation deteriorate so quickly?
Sudan, and what was then the semi-independent Southern Sudan, endured a brutal civil war for more than 25 years, which resulted in South Sudan’s independence in 2011. But the conflict in December 2013 reopened deeply-rooted political and ethnic tensions that hadn’t yet been reconciled — and those divisions have continued to fuel ongoing clashes.
After those decades of conflict, South Sudan was and still is one of the least-developed countries in the world, which has further complicated the situation.
The larger cities in South Sudan had experienced some development, but the majority of the nation is rural. Even before the crisis, more than half of its citizens lived in absolute poverty, were dependent on subsistence agriculture and suffered from malnourishment. Many people were already refugees and were only beginning to resettle and rebuild their homes.
“I am afraid we have lost our future and everything we worked so hard for to win our independence,” says Chudier from the displacement camp where she’s seeking safety. “We worked hard to build a life here [in South Sudan] and have beds to sleep on, blankets and plates to eat off. Now it is all gone.”
“I just want peace and to be able to take my family home, so they can have a normal life,” she continues. “I spent most of my life as a refugee, I don’t want my children to grow up like I did.”
Because the economy was already fragile before fighting began, people like Chudier have very few resources to help them survive the long-term conflict and displacement they’re being faced with.
In addition, the country has very little formal infrastructure — roads, buses, buildings — which makes it difficult to transport food and supplies. Many towns and villages become inaccessible during the annual rainy season due to closed airstrips, washed out roads or lack of roads altogether, sometimes limiting any delivery of humanitarian aid to the isolated areas that need it most.
Where have people fled to?
Just over 720,000 people have crossed into neighboring countries including Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Inside South Sudan, 1.6 million people are displaced.
The crowded U.N. displacement sites are frequently depicted in news about the crisis, but the truth is only a small fraction of those who’ve escaped the violence reside in these camps.
The majority of displaced families live outside the camps, wherever they can find safe shelter — often in small villages that offer some security, tucked away from the main areas of fighting. For some living in the most violent areas, there is no other choice but to flee into the bush with what little they can carry with them.
How are people surviving outside of camps?
Many families who’ve fled their homes have had to move two or three times to escape the spreading violence.
Some run into the bush, with their children on their backs and little or nothing else. In the bush, there is often nothing to eat but wild plants like grass, roots and water lilies. But some people would rather face the risk of starving than endure the violence that is rampant in towns and villages.
For others, finding shelter in an isolated, small village, removed from the violence, is the best they can hope for. Those villages offer some sense of safety, but there is little in the way of food or supplies, and always the risk that fighting will come and families will have to flee yet again.
Small food rations given out by aid organizations help somewhat, but escalating attacks on aid convoys and the annual rainy season make deliveries difficult and infrequent — not enough to count on.
Mercy Corps has provided seeds and tools and supports markets in small villages so food can be grown and accessed by families sheltering in rural areas.
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