Into Existence: Southern Sudan on the Eve of Independence
Into Existence: Southern Sudan on the Eve of Independence
3 minute read
Southern Sudanese from the pastoralist Taposa tribe take part in a nationalist celebration in the remote area of Kapoeta. Support for southern independence is strong even among groups in the most desolate areas.Pete Muller—AP
On July 9th, 2011, the swamps and plains of southern Sudan will become the world’s 193rd country. For decades across this vast and largely vacant landscape, unspeakable violence and devastation prevailed. More than two million people perished as southern rebels waged a 23-year rebellion against the northern government, aimed at empowering the resource-rich but deeply marginalized south. In 2005, the war came to an ostensible end with an agreement that allowed for the prospect of southern independence in 2011, the same year in which the ceasefire is set to expire.
When I arrived in southern Sudan in 2009, I did so with only a general understanding of the dynamics at play. In the almost two years since then, I have been humbled, deeply and repeatedly, by the complexity of the southern struggle and the respective identities of those who waged it. The land is vast and boasts astounding topographic, cultural and political diversity. On the basis of environment, its numerous tribes and sub-tribes have developed distinct identities that, while of continual personal intrigue, give me pause in my assessment of the future here.
For the time being, the social glue of liberation ideology creates a bond of identity between southerners. From arid pastoral plains to lush agrarian fields, across scores of languages and varied cultures, the yearning for independence is profound. The struggle for freedom and the sacrifices made to attain it define the existing national identity of the new South. I fear, however, that when the common denominator of northern repression becomes a thing of the past, that a new form of factionalized identity politics could prevail and that a new era of internal conflict and suffering might soon begin. I hope I am wrong.
I am humbled by and grateful for the opportunity to document this critical and complex period of South Sudan’s history. My experiences in this vast and diverse land have taught me more about the enduring challenges of nation states than any amount of academic study ever could. I hope, above all things, that the proud and determined people of this newborn Republic can find peaceful solutions to the inevitable challenges ahead. Of all the world’s people, they deserve a break.
Pete Muller is a photographer based in Juba, Sudan. His work has appeared in the New York Times, Paris Match and TIME.com, among others.
Southern Sudanese from the pastoralist Taposa tribe take part in a nationalist celebration in the remote area of Kapoeta. Support for southern independence is strong even among groups in the most desolate areas. Pete Muller—APA survivor of a massacre in Fangak, southern Sudan on Thursday, April 7, 2011. The massacre occurred when forces loyal to rebel General George Athor attacked the to town of Fangak on Feb 9th and 10th, 2011. When the fighting ended, more than 200 people were dead, many of whom were civilians.Pete Muller—APNuer tribeswomen in the remote town of Akobo, near the border with Ethiopia. Akobo has been devastated by intertribal fighting since the end of the civil war in 2005.Pete MullerA woman from the highly marginalized and deeply distrusted Murle stands with her cattle at dawn in Pibor.Pete MullerA woman tends to her garden in the fertile lands along the southern border with Uganda. The tribes in the deep south are agriculturalists and differ significantly in collective personality from the semi-nomadic pastoralists of central southern Sudan. Pete MullerSouthern Sudanese Catholics prepare for Easter mass in Wau, the south's second largest city. Christianity is a vital component of southern identity and was significant source of conflict between southern tribes and the northern, Islamic government in Khartoum. The north's historic imposition of Islamic law throughout the south was a grievance that helped to galvanize the southern liberation movement.Pete MullerNorthern Sudanese traders pray at a mosque in the volatile southern town of Malakal. Thousands of northerners live in the south where they own businesses and facilitate trade with the north. Such traders are the commercial lifeline between southern border towns that are cut off from Juba and therefore dependent on goods from the north.Pete Muller—APInternally displaced southern Sudanese outside a church serving as a makeshift camp in the village of Mayen Abun, southern Sudan on May 26, 2011.Pete Muller—APAn internally displaced girl from Abyei sits around a small fire in a makeshift IDP camp in the village of Mayen Abun, southern Sudan on May 26, 2011.Pete Muller—APSouthern soldiers stand guard on the roof of the airport in Juba, southern Sudan's defacto capital city.Pete MullerSouthern Sudanese youth rally for secession in the capital city of Juba. Throughout 2010, youth movements campaigned heavily to bolster support for southern independence in the lead up to the January 2011 referendum.Pete Muller—APSouthern women prepare to compete in the annual Miss New Sudan beauty pageant in Juba. The annual event is attended largely by members of southern Sudan's emerging business and political elites.Pete MullerA young boy eats ice cream inside the only shop that sells it in southern Sudan.Pete MullerA southern Sudanese doctor looks out over the male surgical recovery ward in the main hospital in Bentiu, the capital of southern Sudan's oil rich Unity State.Pete MullerSouthern Sudanese election observers and political party agents sit inside a polling station in Juba, southern Sudan, during the country's historic presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections in April 2010. The elections were the first to take place in Sudan since 1986.Pete Muller—APA civil society election monitor sits in her office at the end of presidential, parliamentary and gubernatorial elections in April 2011. With a scarcely educated population in the south voting for numerous candidates on more than 10 separate ballots, the elections were regarded by international monitoring groups as some of the most complex to date.Pete MullerA southern woman in a town close to the north-south border registers to vote in the independence referendum. Millions of southern Sudanese registered and voted in a long awaited referendum that set the region on track to secede from the north.Pete Muller—APHeavily armed members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the main rebel movement that battled northern Sudanese forces from 1983-2005. Now functioning as the national army, the SPLA struggles to transform from a guerilla group to a professional fighting force. The army is deeply factionalized, largely along tribal lines. Troops remain loyal not to the institution, but to specific generals who commanded them during the war.Pete MullerSalva Kiir (green sash), the President of the Government of South Sudan and Riek Machar (2nd on left) release a dove upon Kiir's return from the United States. The two men were bitter enemies during the latter years of the civil war in southern Sudan. Machar aligned with the northern government in Khartoum and used his forces against Kiir and other SPLA commanders. The relationship is emblematic of the tense and distrusting alliances that define the southern political landscape.Pete MullerA man dons the flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement during a rally in Juba.Pete Muller
