Juba, South Sudan

Juba is the capital of the Republic of South Sudan and also the capital of Jubek State. South Sudan separated from Sudan and became an independent nation on July 9, 2011. Juba is the country’s most populous city and is considered its administrative, economic, and political center.

Landscape

The city of Juba is located on the banks of the White Nile River and is widely forested and grassy. The land in Juba is generally flat, and South Sudan is considered one of the richest agricultural areas in Africa with fertile soil and abundant water supplies. The majority of Juba’s roads are unpaved and animal and automobile traffic regularly generate dust throughout the city. Juba has an average temperature of 22 degrees Celsius (71 degrees Fahrenheit), and the rainy season is typically between April and October with an average yearly total rainfall of 952 millimeter (38 inches). Rainfall is heaviest in the upland areas in the south of the country. The country is rich in natural resources such as gold, diamonds, petroleum, and various minerals.

People

According to the US Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, the population of Juba was 459,000 as of 2023. In the weeks following South Sudan’s Independence Day on July 9, 2011, the city began to experience a significant increase in its population. It was estimated that one thousand refugees per day began returning to the city, having lived elsewhere in the region during decades of civil war. United Nations officials operating in the city expressed concern that the explosion in the number of residents would push the city’s already limited infrastructure to the breaking point. In 2011, the country was made up of many ethnic groups, with the Dinka accounting for 36 percent of the population, the Nuer at 16 percent, and over 15 other groups represented in the country's population.

English is the official language of South Sudan, and many inhabitants also speak Arabic, which includes Juba and Sudanese variants. There are also several regional languages, which include Kinka, Nuer, and Bari.

Economy

Juba’s location on the White Nile has made it an important regional transportation and economic center throughout its history. The city’s role as a trade center encouraged the early development of its infrastructure. During the Second Sudanese Civil War, which lasted from 1983 to 2005, the city suffered much damage and witnessed a lot of bloodshed. Although the city is far less urbanized than many Western capitals, it remains a center of business and commerce. Several international banks, including banks from Kenya and Uganda, maintain a presence in Juba.

Much of the local economy in Juba is active at Konyo Konyo market, where local agricultural goods and automobile parts and services are traded. Because Juba has no central plumbing system, the business of transporting and selling fresh water is prevalent throughout the city. Non-governmental organizations or international aid groups purchase the large majority of water as prices are generally too high for local people to afford.

South Sudan depends largely on imported goods, services, and capital from Uganda, Kenya, and Sudan. South Sudan is rich in natural resources, however, and it produces almost three quarters of the former Sudan's oil output, and therefore derives almost all of its revenues from oil. In 2012 when South Sudan suspended oil production due to a dispute with the Republic of Sudan over transshipment fees, South Sudan's gross domestic product declined by 55 percent. Unemployment rates are high; in 2021, the rate was estimated at nearly 14 percent.

Transportation

There are several motorcycle taxi stands throughout the city. In addition, group transportation is available via shared vans. Taxis of any sort are known locally as “boda-boda.” The majority of Juba’s citizens walk from one location to another as they cannot afford the boda-boda fees.

History

Juba is located near a nineteenth-century trading post named Gondokoro, which grew out of a Catholic mission that was built by Austrian missionaries. The city of Juba was first established during the 1920s by officials of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, a colony jointly administered by the United Kingdom and Egypt; Greek traders supplying the local British garrisons strongly influenced the development of the town. In 1947, the city served as the site of negotiations between British settlers who aimed to quell increasing tensions between northern and southern Sudanese tribes. The Juba Conference helped to establish the north’s dominance over political and administrative matters in Sudan for the coming decades.

From 1955 to 1972, a civil war took place between the newly independent Sudanese government in Khartoum and the southern rebels known as Anya Nya (or Anyanya). The group resolved its dispute with the government in 1972, but this agreement collapsed in 1982, sparking the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Over the next two decades, it is estimated that more than two million deaths occurred as a result of the conflict, and over four million people were displaced. A final peace accord was signed in 2005, which granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years and named Juba the interim capital. In January 2011, a referendum was held that indicated support for southern Sudan independence, which was achieved on July 9, 2011, when South Sudan became an independent state and Juba was officially named its capital. However, the country has been beset by continuing unrest after a civil war broke out in 2013, with destructive fighting taking place in Juba, especially in 2016, although the city has been mostly quiet but tense in the years since. The nation has struggled to implement the power-sharing agreement reached in 2018, and violence continues to break out occasionally. South Sudan planned to hold elections in February 2023, but these were postponed until December 2024.

Bibliography

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