Bartello 1
Nico Bartello
Prof. Anyango
Seminar in Composition: Diversity
5 April 2023
Facts
● South Sudan also goes by the Republic
of South Sudan.
● Location
○ It is a landlocked nation in
Eastern Africa.
○ Ethiopia, Sudan, the Central
African Republic, the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Uganda, and Kenya
neighbor it.
○ South Sudan declared its
independence from Sudan on
July 9, 2011. Thus it became
the newest nation in the world.
● They have more than 60 different
ethnic groups and they all have their
own cultures and languages
● English and Arabic are the official
languages
● It has an unstable economy primarily
because of mismanagement and
corruption
● South Sudan primarily makes its
money off of oil with oil being 95
percent of the country's earnings.
● Unfortunately, that money is being put
toward the war instead of its people
and development
● Since Independence
○ South Sudan has been in a
constant state of conflict
○ Conflict Stems from
Government, Opposition, and
random acts of violence from
individual groups
○ They had a civil war in 2013
● Millions of people have been
displaced to nearby nations
● South Sudan is one of the poorest
countries and has a high rate of
unemployment, poverty, and hunger.
Analysis
It is a landlocked nation can cause issues
because that leads to them relying on other
neighboring countries for imports. It can
cause issues with international trade because
they cannot ship anything out themselves.
This also puts South Sudan in a very
vulnerable position as they would have a lot
of trouble defending themselves from an
attack since they are surrounded. There are
some environmental issues that arise also
including possible limited water supply which
can affect their agriculture.
Economic issues have a variety of effects on a
country, its people, and its communities. This
can cause people not to have basic living
rights such as shelter, food, or clothes. It can
also cause people to lose their jobs, have bad
health because there aren't good hospitals, and
experience social issues.
Using Children as soldiers comes with an
immense amount of issues. Firstly it
obviously puts the children at risk for illness,
injury or death. The next biggest issues are
trauma such as PTSD, they cannot access
education which contributes to the cycle of
poverty. They also lose their childhood which
takes away their chance to socialize and grow
up, they are often deceived or forced outright
to join the army. They also have trouble
reassimilating back into their society. In the
end, these children will most likely perpetuate
the cycle of violence and will ignore the
chance for peaceful solutions in the future.
Another issue plaguing South Sudan is its low
literacy rate. This can cause many issues

● Main Reasons People Flee
○ They abuse human rights
○ The political instability and
economic issues
○ The ongoing conflict
● Conflict
○ Children and Women make up
63 percent of all South
Sudanese refugees.
○ They also make up around 80
percent of the refugees fleeing
the country.
○ Most of them have endured
sexual assault and brutal
assault and many children have
been torn away from their
parents.
● Human Right abuses
○ Extrajudicial executions
○ Child Marriages
○ Arbitrary arrests and detentions
○ Sexual Assualt
○ Child Soldiers
● Both the government and the
opposition use child soldiers with the
UN estimating there are around 19,000
● Education
○ They have one of the lowest
literacy rates in the world.
○ Less than 30 percent of the
population can read and write
○ Primarily caused by the
conflict which makes a lot of
teachers leave and schools
close
● It faces a massive food insecurity
problem, with more than 4.3 million
people experiencing a food shortage.
● This is also caused by the conflict
which has destroyed agriculture and
food production.
● Luckily the UHNCR has stepped in to
help people find stable housing
Bartello 2
down the line one of them being low access to
education later in life. They also would suffer
from rough economic outcomes since they
would have limited job opportunities which
would also contribute to their poverty
problem. One of the biggest issues that hit me
right away because of your example is that
they would have trouble with health. This is
because they would have trouble reading the
prescription details, and would have trouble
describing their symptoms in detail and other
health details. They would also be essentially
cut off from everyone else, can't access the
internet, read books, etc.
They also are affected by a lot of issues
relating to malnutrition this is because it can
stunt physical and cognitive development, and
also weaken the immune system. This also
goes with poverty because some families may
not have a lot of money which means they use
most of it on food and can't afford other
important things such as healthcare,
education, or housing. This can also lead to
more conflict if there is a food shortage. Food
has one of the biggest effects on other parts of
the country such as education, this is because
students could have to drop out of school just
to help their family find food or produce
money to buy food. It also severely affects a
lot of women who use the food they get to
feed their families leading to higher
malnutrition in them.
With all of these issues, South Sudan is going
to have a really difficult time getting out of
this never-ending conflict that is plaguing
their country. Especially with the low literacy
they are going to have trouble coming to an
agreement and especially the children being
used as soldiers are going to want to keep
fighting and not look for a peaceful option.