South Sudan or officially the Republic of South Sudan, is the youngest nation in the world, having only emerged in 2011 after a long civil strife. Its capital is Juba, with approximately 250,000 residents, while the total population is about eight million residents. Most of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, but the country’s main wealth is oil, from which it produces about 500,000 barrels a day, although it depends on pipelines and refineries in the north.
As a country located in Africa according to A2ZGOV, South Sudan is bordered to the north by Sudan, to the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya, to the east by Ethiopia, and to the west by the Central African Republic.
The northwest of the country is occupied by the Libyan desert and the northeast by the Nubian desert that ends in the Atbay mountains that reach 1780 meters of altitude. In the center and south of the country, the Marra mountain range, the Kordofan plateau and, beyond the Nile, the first foothills of the Ethiopian massifs extend from east to west.
Geography
South Sudan is bordered to the north by Sudan, to the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya, to the east by Ethiopia, and to the west by the Central African Republic.
The northwest of the country is occupied by the Libyan desert and the northeast by the Nubian desert that ends in the Atbay mountains that reach 1780 meters of altitude. In the center and south of the country, the Marra mountain range, the Kordofan plateau and, beyond the Nile, the first foothills of the Ethiopian massifs extend from east to west. The main rivers are: the White Nile and the Sobat.
Climate
The climate is equatorial with an average annual temperature of 29.4 C (85 F) and annual rainfall around 1015 mm.
Fauna and Flora
The protected areas of southern Sudan are home to some of the most spectacular and important wildlife populations in all of Africa, and are home to the world’s second largest wildlife migration. Studies carried out in previous years revealed that Boma National Park, west of the border with Ethiopia, the southern humid zone, and the Southern National Park near the border with Congo, are the habitat of large populations. of kob and topis (two types of antelope), buffalo, elephants, giraffes, hartebeest (another antelope), and of lions. The forest reserves of southern Sudan are also the habitat of bongos (also a type of antelope), giant forest pigs, red river pigs, forest elephants, chimpanzees and forest monkeys.
In 2006, the President of South Sudan announced that the region will do everything possible to protect and maintain its flora and fauna, and to try to reduce the effects of forest fires, waste dumping and water pollution. At the same time, large multinational companies that are in a position to extract natural resources in South Sudan on a large scale, pose a notable threat to the nation’s wildlife and its habitats.
Wildlife habitats in southern Sudan include grasslands, rugged high-altitude plateaus, tree and grass savannas, floodplains, and wetlands [13] .
Economy
Although the vast majority of the population practices subsistence agriculture, the country’s main economic resource is oil. Sudan exported oil for billions of dollars a year. Until the moment of independence the profits were divided equally between the north and the south. However, more than 80% of the production comes from South Sudan but most of the pipelines and shipping ports are in the north and frequent crises between the two neighbors make South Sudan’s economy extremely unstable.
Some parts of the country lack food security, while others such as Yei (in the state of Central Equatoria) and Western Equatoria produce large quantities of food, but the country lacks communication routes to transport it. South Sudan only has 110 km of paved roads in Juba, and only one that connects this capital with the Ugandan border. Many regions of the country are only accessible by air [14] .
A big problem in South Sudan is widespread corruption and the concentration of wealth in very few hands. In 2012, $ 8 billion from oil exports disappeared from the country, believed to have been stolen by public officials [15] .
Armed forces
The South Sudanese armed forces are mostly made up of former members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. According to the Constitution of the country, the objectives of the national army are to defend the Constitution and the sovereignty of the country, protect the population and ensure the territorial integrity of South Sudan. Participate in the reconstruction of the country and serve the citizenry in the event of disasters and emergencies as allowed by the fundamental law of the country [33] .
The air force is made up of 10 Russian Mi-17 helicopters and has a few other transport aircraft. It does not own combat aircraft. During the border war in April 2011 against Sudan, the South Sudanese army was powerless against attacks by the Sudanese air force [34] .
The ground army is mainly equipped with Russian weapons, which have come to the country mainly through the black market. They have an undetermined number of T – 55 and T – 72 tanks, as well as multiple BM – 21 rocket launchers. The infantry is equipped with a great diversity of weapons of different origins. Among the most used are the AK – 47, IMI Galil and FN FAL rifles.