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Egypt attempted to colonize the region of southern Sudan by establishing the province of Equatoria in the 1870s. Islamic Mahdist revolutionaries overran the region in 1885, but in 1898 a British force was able to overthrow the Mahdist regime. An Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was established the following year with Equatoria being the southernmost of its eight provinces. The isolated region was largely left to itself over the following decades, but Christian missionaries converted much of the population and facilitated the spread of English. When Sudan gained its independence in 1956, it was with the understanding that the southerners would be able to participate fully in the political system. When the Arab Khartoum government reneged on its promises, a mutiny began that led to two prolonged periods of conflict (1955-1972 and 1983-2005) in which perhaps 2.5 million people died - mostly civilians - due to starvation and drought. Ongoing peace talks finally resulted in a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January 2005. As part of this agreement, the south was granted a six-year period of autonomy to be followed by a referendum on final status. The result of this referendum, held in January 2011, was a vote of 98% in favor of secession.

Location

East-Central Africa; south of Sudan, north of Uganda and Kenya, west of Ethiopia

Natural Resources

hydropower, fertile agricultural land, gold, diamonds, petroleum, hardwoods, limestone, iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver

Population - distribution

clusters found in urban areas, particularly in the western interior and around the White Nile

8260490
English (official), Arabic (includes Juba and Sudanese variants), regional languages include Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Zande, Shilluk
JUBA (capital) 321,000 (2015)
Conventional long form
Republic of South Sudan
Conventional short form
South Sudan
Local long form
Local short form
presidential republic
Name
Juba
Geographic coordinates
04 51 N 31 37 E
Time difference
UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Following several decades of civil war with Sudan, industry and infrastructure in landlocked South Sudan are severely underdeveloped and poverty is widespread. Subsistence agriculture provides a living for the vast majority of the population. Property rights are insecure and price signals are weak, because markets are not well organized. After independence, South Sudan's central bank issued a new currency, the South Sudanese pound, allowing a short grace period for turning in the old currency.
Inflation
380.777%
Total tax rate (% of commercial profits)
29.1%
Real Interest Rate
12.022%
Manufacturing, value added (% of GDP)
None%
Current Account Balance
US$ -935,399,217
Labor Force, Total
Employment in Agriculture
%
Employment in Industry
%
Employment in Services
%
Unemployment Rate
%
Imports of goods and services
US$ 5,190,845,385
Exports of goods and services
US$ 881,417,415
Total Merchandise Trade
%
FDI, net inflows
US$ -277,000,000
Commercial Service Exports
US$ 29,304,955
sorghum, maize, rice, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, mangoes, papayas, bananas, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, cotton, sesame seeds, cassava (manioc, tapioca), beans, peanuts; cattle, sheep
Commodities
Partners
Commodities
Partners
Country Risk Rating
Business Climate Rating

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