A returning young refugee peers tentatively out of the bus that has brought him back to his parents' homeland. After more than 30 years of conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and independence referendum has meant that refugees who had fled southern Sudan could finally return home. However, many were born while in exile and had never known nor visited their parents’ homeland other than in the stories that had been recounted to them. Returning refugees face significant challenges and are forced to confront a reality where resources and opportunities are hard to come by. Their sustainable reintegration is an additional challenge for the fledgling country.
Boys distracted from fishing fight and play war games with their fishing rods, Malakal, South Sudan, 2011. With the conflict having lasted for over 30 years, many have only ever known the violence and instability that it brought.
Riek Machar speaks at a campaign rally held in support of Southern Sudan becoming independent from Sudan, in his home state of Unity, Bentiu, 2011. Machar is a controversial but pivotal figure in South Sudan’s bloody past. Belonging to the Dok section of the Nuer Bentiu people, he was a strong and consistent advocate for a fully independent South Sudan. He led various armed movements, militia and factions and fought both with and against the main rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) at times entering into agreements with the Government of Sudan. He has been accused of stoking ethnic rivalries between the Nuer and Dinka people and been responsible for atrocities such as the Bor massacre. Following independence he was appointed vice president of the country but has been instrumental in ongoing instability and conflict.
Refugee children play on trucks that have carried their possessions from Sudan as part of the voluntary return operation. After more than 30 years of conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and independence referendum has meant that refugees who had fled southern Sudan could finally return home. However, many were born while in exile and had never known nor visited their parents’ homeland other than in the stories that had been recounted to them. Returning refugees face significant challenges and are forced to confront a reality where resources and opportunities are hard to come by. Their sustainable reintegration is an additional challenge for the fledgling country.
A man pulls his wooden pirogue laden with reeds to be used in house construction through the waters of the Nile, Malakal 2011. Malakal sits on the southern edge of the Sudd, a vast swamp in South Sudan whose name derives from the Arabic sadd meaning barrier or obstruction. For many years the swamp, and especially its thicket of vegetation, proved an impenetrable barrier to navigation along the Nile which both the ancient Egyptians and Romans were unable to penetrate and which complicated expeditions searching for the source of the Nile.
A man receives assistance from a polling station worker to cast his vote in the referendum to determine whether South Sudan should become an independent country and separate from Sudan. For many, this was the first time that they had the opportunity to vote in an election. With much of the country’s infrastructure destroyed during decades of conflict, many polling stations were set up in the ruins of what was left such as schools. 98.83% of the population voted for independence.
A woman dances at a rally in favour of independence promoting the separation of southern Sudan from Sudan.
Recently returned refugees play with a puppy in a transitional camp while they await transportation to the villages where they will build new lives. After more than 30 years of conflict, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and independence referendum has meant that refugees who had fled southern Sudan could finally return home. However, many were born while in exile and had never known nor visited their parents’ homeland other than in the stories that had been recounted to them. Returning refugees face significant challenges and are forced to confront a reality where resources and opportunities are hard to come by. Their sustainable reintegration is an additional challenge for the fledgling country.
A church group march and sing in support of independence at a rally in Bentiu, January 2011.
A band member takes a rest from ceremonial duties, Bentiu 2011. Above him is painted the proposed flag of the newly independent South Sudan.
A man with traditional Nuer initiation marks peers through a fence in Malakal, South Sudan. The Nuer receive facial markings (called gaar) as part of their initiation into adulthood. The pattern of Nuer scarification varies within specific subgroups. The most common initiation pattern among males consists of six parallel horizontal lines which are cut across the forehead with a razor.
A man walks down a recently repaired road that links Malakal with the local base of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. More than 30 years of conflict left much of the country’s infrastructure in ruin with most roads barely navigable.
Sunset on the Nile, Malakal, 2011
New recruits celebrate at their graduation ceremony into the South Sudan Police Service (SSNPS), Malakal, January 2011. Formed in 2005, following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended Sudan’s civil war, capacity building of the SSNPS was largely neglected until concerns mounted that the police would be unable to provide basic security during the Referendum voting. Efforts were made to improve training, weed out the most incompetent officers, and recruit new police who had basic literacy skills and did not come from a military background. However, the inability of the SSNPS to provide basic security to the population of South Sudan has been exposed since independence with chronic instability continuing to plague large parts of the country. The SSNPS lacks the capacity to respond serious outbreaks of violence, while its Auxiliary Force has been accused of committing serious human rights abuses against civilians.
A boy wades through a puddle in Malakal, 2011.
An observer in a polling station in a school in Bentiu keeps an eye on the process during the referendum to determine whether South Sudan should become an independent country and separate from Sudan, January 2011. After decades of war, much of the country’s infrastructure, such as schools, was lying in ruins. Polling stations were set up in what was left. 98.83% of the population voted for independence.
A refugee recently returned to South Sudan from Khartoum wears a t-shirt featuring Sudan president Omar al-Bashir in military uniform. Seizing power in a coup d’etat in 1989 al-Bashir ruled Sudan with an iron fist. He had deep links with the various groups involved in South Sudan’s conflict employing ‘divide and rule’ tactics to great effect. Purchasing the loyalty of various armed groups in local communities and key leaders was the vehicle through which much of the war in southern Sudan was fought. Nonetheless, he was one of the main architects of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that brought an end to the conflict and paved the way for the referendum on independence.
A boy finds a quiet spot to study on the outskirts of Malakal, 2011.