The Ethnic Roots of South Sudan’s Conflict

Abstract

South Sudan’s conflict has continued unabated tor decades as aimed groups with diverse interests have splintered and fought, hi light of this unremitting conflict, this paper argues that the 2013 re-eruption of South Sudan’s conflict was primarily wrought by ethnic divisions, though the manipulation of such divisions by elites, weak institutions, and competition over resources have considerably prolonged the civil war in the country. The failure to manage ethnic heterogeneity alter independence in South Sudan enabled the political elite to manipulate ethnic fault lines created during the colonial period and nurtured during the north-south civil wars. Too, lack of political will by the postindependent South Sudanese government to build strong institutions has encouraged political elites to trample on existing weak institutions. Rampant corruption has permitted political elites to compete tor the control of natural resources. This paper extends our understanding of the existential interface between ethnicity and politics in complex, heterogeneous South Sudan.