South Sudan

Updated May 9, 2025July 6, 2026 (IF10218)

Peace has been elusive in South Sudan, which, with U.S. support, became the world's newest country in 2011. The civil war that erupted there in late 2013 featured widespread sexual violence, mass killings, and other atrocities. It displaced over a third of the population and fueled Africa's largest refugee crisis for a decade. An estimated 400,000 people died as a result of the warconflict before the most recent peace deal was signed in 2018. Whether thatthe agreement ended the war is debated. Conflict has continueds to plague the country, and the situation is deteriorating in 2025 as hostilities risehas been deteriorating since 2025.

South Sudan ranks as one of the world's poorest and most fragile states, the most corrupt, and one of the least freeand as one of the least free and most corrupt. Led by President Salva Kiir, the country has not held elections since independence. Its security forces have "mutilated, tortured, beat, and harassed political opponents, journalists, and human rights activists," per the State Department, and targetedtargeted government critics outside the country. In early 2025, Kiir's regime arrested his main outside the country. President Salva Kiir's government has repeatedly delayed what would be the first elections since independence. Kiir's regime arrested First Vice President Riek Machar, his leading rival and co-signatory on the 2018 peace deal, in March, accusing him ofFirst Vice President Riek Machar, for allegedly inciting rebellion.

The United States, which facilitated the 2005 peace deal that enabled South Sudan's independence from Sudan, has long been the country's largest aid donor and the penholder on the issue in the UN Security Council. Congressional interest, driven historically by humanitarian and human rights concerns, has shaped U.S. policy toward what is now South Sudan for decades. The U.S. Embassy continues to press for implementation of the peace deal and hasU.S. officials have pushed for all parties to stop attacks and implement the 2018 peace deal, and they have called for Machar's release and a return to dialogue among the agreement's signatories.

Humanitarian Situation

South Sudan faces a severe humanitarian crisis that has grown over the past decade: per UN estimates, 9.310 million people (three-quartersover 70% of the population) need aid in 2025; 7.72026, per UN estimates, and 7.8 million face acute food insecurity. Over 1.8 million are internally displaced; 2.3, with some at risk of famine. Over 2.5 million South Sudanese are internally displaced, and fresh fighting has displaced over 400,000 since the start of 2026. Another 2.4 million are refugees in neighboring countries. Widespread flooding since 2019 has added to displacement and food insecurity. South Sudan ranks as one ofSudan overtook South Sudan as Africa's largest refugee crisis in 2024, and South Sudan has faced an influx of over 1.3 million refugees and returnees from its northern neighbor, straining aid operations. South Sudan ranks among the countries most vulnerable to natural hazards and climate change impacts and as one ofshocks and among the most dangerous countries for aid workers. Sudan overtook South Sudan as Africa's largest refugee crisis in 2024; South Sudan has faced an influx of over a million refugees and returnees from Sudan, straining communities and aid operationsfor aid workers. Government forces have restricted aid access to rebel-held areas and attacked health facilities, but opposition forces have also exploited assistance.

Competing donor priorities and increasing costs have led to growing humanitarian funding gaps since 2020, forcing aid agencies to reduce assistance amid rising needs. Some reports suggest aid cuts have led to deaths. U.S. aidU.S. assistance has routinely comprised over half of all humanitarian funding for South Sudan. The Trump Administration's foreign aid pause and cuts, which have drawn congressional debate, have reportedly disrupted some life-saving programs; Save the Children, but it has cited them as a factor in several deaths. The State Department says that the United States "continues to provide critical, life-saving assistance in South Sudan."

declined under the Trump Administration and currently constitutes almost a third.

Figure 1. South Sudan Key Facts

Source: CRS map. FiguresData from CIA and IMF reference, World Bank & IMF databases.

Background and Context

South Sudan's independence followed a vote for secession from Sudan after almost 40 years of rebellion. Decades of war had inhibited the development of human capital, basic infrastructure, and formal institutions, fueling humanitarian needs that persisted after independence, despite rich natural resources, including oil fields that once generated 75% of Sudan's oil production. As former rebels, South Sudan's leaders had little experience governing, and corruption and conflict slowedhindered post-war recovery and development.

The civil war in Sudan that led to South Sudan's secession iswas often characterized as a north-south struggle, but fighting among southern rebel commanders nearly derailed the south's bid for self-determination. Leaders in the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/ SPLA) vying for power mobilized their supporters along ethnic lines, and Sudan's government fuelednurtured SPLM divisions by financing breakaway factions (a tactic Kiir has adopted). The rebel factions reconciled in the early 2000s, helping the SPLM form a united front in peace talks with Sudan's government, culminating in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Under the CPA, Sudan remained unified for a six-year interim period before southerners voted on separation.

After the CPA, the SPLM became the south's ruling party. With the death of longtime SPLM leader John Garang just months after the CPA signing, the south lost its leading advocate for a united Sudan, and in 2011, over 98% of its voters chose secession. The new country was awash in small arms, and grievances fueled local rebellions and intercommunal violence. The SPLA, which became South Sudan's army, responded with violent, ethnically targeted disarmament campaigns. Maneuvering ahead of the first post-independence elections planned for 2015 added to these dynamics. A 2013 cabinet reshuffle, in which Kiir dismissed his vice president, Riek Machar, formalized a major fissure in the SPLM. Tensions rose as Machar and other SPLM leaders accused Kiir of becoming increasingly dictatorial, and erupted in December 2013, as the party convened to choose its presidential candidate for the polls.

Civil War

The political dispute that triggered the 2013 crisis was not based on ethnicity, but it overlapped with ethnic and political grievances, spurring targeted ethnic killings and clashes in the capital and then beyond. What began as a fight in the presidential guardIt split the military, largely along ethnic lines. Attacks targeting Machar's Nuer ethnic group (the country's second largest) were followed by revenge attacks againston Dinka, Kiir's ethnic group, the Dinka (the largest group). Machar and some senior Nuer military leaders subsequently declared a rebellion. The ensuing war pitted government forces and ethnic militia loyal to Kiir against thoseforces aligned with Machar. Uganda provided initial military support to Kiir's regime and reportedly facilitated its arms imports.

As the violence spread, over 200,000 people sought refuge at UN peacekeeping bases, which became Protection of Civilians (POC) sites. Some experts assess that the decision by the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) to open the bases toshelter civilians may have saved tens of thousands of lives. One POC site, in Upper Nile state, remains, providing shelter to over 40,000 civilians facing ongoing insecurity.

The warring parties, who became known as the SPLM-IG (In Government; led by Kiir) and SPLM-IO (In Opposition; led by Machar), The warring parties—Kiir's SPLM-IG (In Government) and Machar's SPLM-IO (In Opposition)—broke multiple ceasefires before, under threat of sanctions, they signed the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS) in 2015. Kiir called the deal an attack on South Sudan's sovereignty and both. Both parties delayed implementing itits implementation until early 2016, when they formed a unity government, with Machar returning as one of two vice presidents. The detente did not last long. A series of confrontations: clashes between the parties' forces in Juba in July 2016 reignited the warreignited the war in mid-2016, and Machar, pursued by Kiir's forces, fled the country.

Seeking to maintain the appearance of a unity government, Kiir replaced Machar with the latter's former deputy and his deputy, who had defected, and Kiir sacked SPLM-IO cabinet members and legislators loyal to Machar, who ledcontinued to lead the main SPLM-IO faction from exile. The rebellion spread and fractured, with defections fromon both sides and new groups emerging. The war moved into the southern Equatoria region, fueling a newspurring another insurgency, spurring and a refugee surge, and affecting key trade routes. Inter- and intracommunal tensions rose across the country.

After years of debate, the UN Security Council The UN Security Council, after years of debate, authorized an arms embargo on South Sudan in 2018. Soon after, Kiir, Machar, and several other political leaders signed a new deal, the Revitalized ARCSS (R-ARCSS). Other groups rejected the dealit, saying itthe deal failed to address the war's root causes. An expanded government was eventually formed in 2020, with Machar becomingreturning as one of five vice presidents.

The R-ARCSS stemmed directcurtailed clashes between the military and IOSPLM-IG and -IO forces, but it did not bring peace. Kiir has encouraged defections from the splintered SPLM-IOcultivated opposition defections and used ethnic militia to wage campaigns in opposition-dominated states, fuelingattacks in states affiliated with the opposition, spurring counterattacks from community defense groups like the Nuer White Army. Amid succession speculation, the violence has escalated. The regime'sHis unilateral replacement of opposition officials in government and detention of Machar and other senior IOIO leaders violate the R-ARCSS. Airstrikes, with Ugandan support, on Nuer villages, attacks on cantoned IO forces, and remarks by regime officials categorizing Nuer areas as "friendly" or "hostile" fuel the country's fracture.

breached the 2018 power-sharing deal, per monitors. Attacks by SPLM-IG forces and airstrikes, some conducted by Uganda, on Nuer villages since early 2025 have escalated hostilities. A UN inquiry has assessed that the regime is "systematically dismantling" the R-ARCSS. Speculation over who might succeed Kiir, reportedly ailing, is also fueling tensions.

The government, ignoring calls for dialogue, aims to hold the country's first elections, originally expected in 2015, in December 2026. Widespread insecurity and active hostilities, political prosecutions, repression, and logistical hurdles may undermine the credibility of any elections.

Justice and Accountability

In 2015, an African Union (AU) Commission of Inquiry reported grounds to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed in the civil war. It, and it recommended the creation of an AU-backed hybrid court to ensure accountability. The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has since reported other violations it says may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing. The commission reported in early 2025 that it continues to see "the same patterns of gross violations in the same places, often implicating the same public and military offices," andproposed hybrid court has yet to be established, and the UN commission has assessed that "pervasive impunity" fuelsis fueling violence and instability in the country. Kiir committed to a hybrid court in 2015 but has not acted on it.

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The Economy: Oil, Gold, and Corruption

South Sudan has Africa's fifth-largest proven oil reserves. The, and the oil sector, which lacks transparency and is rife with corruption, dominates its economy. Oil accounted for 90% of state revenue and 95% of exports before one of the two pipelines carrying itsa pipeline that carries the country's oil through Sudan for export was damaged in early 2024, cutting exports and related revenue by almostnearly 70%. The government stopped paying salaries to civil servants and security forces for a year. The pipeline has been repaired, but salary arrears have not been cleared, and while the pipeline has been repaired and production has risen, salaries remain in arrears.

Some experts describe South Sudan as a kleptocracy. Power is centralized around Kiir, and beyond Juba, in the absence of a functioning state, informal checkpoints flourish, taxing trade and aid. The illicit trade of gold and timber is facilitated through neighboring countries, notably Uganda.

U.S. Policy and Foreign Assistance

South Sudan's civil war and U.S. concerns aboutThe civil war, corruption, and gross human rights abuses have strained bilateral ties. Some Members of Congress, while expressing U.S. support for South Sudan's people, have pushed for accountability from its leaders and criticized support for "the status quo." The United States has designated 25over two dozen people and related companies under a South Sudan sanctions regime or Global Magnitsky sanctions. The first Trump Administration addedpushed the authorization of the UN arms embargo, put 15 oil operators toon the Commerce Department's's Entity List, and imposed Entity List, pushed for the UN arms embargo, and set a policy of visa restrictions foron those undermining peace. The Biden Administration also imposed sanctions and visa restrictions, including for corruption and transnational repression, and issued a business advisory on risks for U.S. companies. The Trump Administration announced a visa ban for South Sudanese in April 2025 over a deportation dispute.

U.S. assistance, most of it humanitarian, has totaled over $700 million annually for a decade and routinely comprised over half of all humanitarian funding for the country. South Sudan is subject to aid restrictions in annual has restricted travel and immigration from South Sudan and restricted visas for government officials for undermining peace. The Administration's decision to terminate Temporary Protected Status for South Sudanese nationals in late 2025 was delayed by a court order, but a June 2026 Supreme Court ruling enables the termination. U.S. aid, most of it humanitarian, totaled over $700 million annually from 2014 to 2024, then fell to under $300 million in 2025. South Sudan is subject to some aid restrictions in appropriations provisions and based on its use of child soldiers and limited efforts to eliminate human trafficking. Non-humanitarian aid has focused on the health sector, which is heavily reliant on donor support, as well as peacebuilding, civil society, and independent media. The Trump Administration has not published details on country-specific aid cuts, but reports suggest the suspension of U.S. funding shuttered some health clinics and nutrition programs. The U.S. Embassy reduced its presence in early 2025, citing security concernshistorically focused on health, peace-building, independent media, and civil society. Many of those programs were cut in the Trump Administration's foreign aid review. The Administration has committed $146 million to prevent the spread of infectious diseases in the country under a new three-year health cooperation Memorandum of Understanding. The Administration has provided $100 million to date in FY2026 humanitarian aid via a UN pooled fund and additional funding for Ebola preparedness (due to an outbreak in neighboring countries).