Africa 24 Media Photography

Sudan's longest civil war began in 1983, largely pitting the Muslim north against the Christian and Animist south. Known as the Sudanese Second Civil War, at least 2 million people are believed to have been killed, while a further 4 million displaced by the 21-year long war. The civilian death toll is one of the highest of any war since the 1939-1945 global military conflict, World War II.

The deaths were attributable to the violence of war, war-induced famine and disease, and Sudanese government policies that spread conflict, forced southern Sudanese to relocate, and blocked relief efforts by the United Nations and international relief agencies. The conflict involved the Sudanese government and the Southern Sudan-based Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). Founded by the late Colonel Dr John Garang de Mabior, Captain Salva Kiir Mayardit, Major William Nyuon Bany and Major Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, the SPLA was formed in 1983 by the rebellious south Sudanese soldiers. The SPLA/M recruits were mainly drawn from the Dinka, the major ethnical-tribal group in the southern Sudan. Over time, the war developed into a national conflict, with the rebels incorporating large groups of Muslims from throughout the north, and the government allying with many non-Muslim southerners. The north-south war formally ended in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which incorporated the former rebel group, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) into a Government of National Unity (GNU). However, lack of good faith and absence of political will has kept Sudan on the periphery as authorities fear the nation could slide back into civil strife.

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