- The Nuer-Dinka Chronic Ethnic War in South Sudan
Dec. 20, 2013
NewsRescue– Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan which seceded from Sudan in July of 2011, is on the brink of a civil war as deadly fighting continues between opposition leader Riek Machar, a Nuer and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, a Dinka. Three Indian UN peackeepers were killed in latest fighting purportedly by the rebels. These deaths add to hundreds of South Sudanese who have died as fighting continues after a failed coup attempt in the Southern nation.
The UN base attacked was evacuated of its remaining staff who were moved to safety; however several dozen Dinka ethnic group civilians who were taking refuge in the UN base are unaccounted for.
The Sudanese army lost Bor, the capital of Jonglei state, to former Vice President Riek Machar’s military faction. The political situation in South Sudan became extremely tense after President Kiir sacked Machar, of the Nuer ethnic group, as Vice President in July, along with his entire cabinet.
There has been militarization and ethnic wars between the Nuer and the Dinka since Sudan Liberation Army split in 1991.
S. Sudan’s neighbors are worried as the war continues to spiral out of control.