User:MOHAMMMED ABBAS/Second Sudanese Civil War

The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated in southern Sudan, the civil war spread to the Nuba mountains and the Blue Nile. It lasted for 22 years and is one of the longest civil wars on record. The war resulted in the independence of South Sudan six years after the war ended.

Women Experience
During the war, women were heavily supporting the communities and people impacted by the war. Women organized food drives, cooked meals, delivered supplies, cared for the wounded, parented orphans, and assisted the elderly. While male-leaders limited the type of work women to traditional societal roles, the male-leaders promised to change the gender relations during peacetime and after the war.

When the war ended, women engaged in their own organizing, coalition-building, and advocacy—just like in the civil war. Women advocated for social change and issues directly impacting women, such as "sexual and gender-based abuse," education, healthcare, and "access to law and justice." The increased political involvement enabled leaders to implement an affirmative action policy, in which 25 percent of representation in all levels of government must be allocated to women. Women involved in state affairs led to the founding of multiple advocacy organizations, including the South Sudanese Women Empowerment Network and South Sudanese Women United. These groups have projects around the world, including the United States.

Notable Literary Works
In the late 1980s, the Second Sudanese Civil War uprooted around 20,000 South Sudanese boys. They walked thousands of miles through Ethiopia to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Some estimates claim that nearly half of the refugees died along the way due to starvation, dehydration and disease. Once in Kenya, the South Sudanese refugees were accepted into various foreign countries, roughly 4,000 of whom came to the United States. These 4,000 young men pursued higher education and eventually became scholars and authors in their own rights. In 2004, James Disco and Susan Clark created the graphic novel “Echoes of the Lost Boys”, which tells the story of four South Sudanese young men as they integrate into American society.

In 2006, Dave Eggers published “What is the What”, a fictional autobiography written from the perspective of Valentino Achak Deng. Valentino Achak Deng is a fictionalized South Sudanese refugee that came to the United States under the Lost Boys of Sudan Program. The book was a finalist for National Book of the Year.

These works highlight the continued struggles of people affected by the Second Sudanese Civil War as they attempt to integrate themselves in foreign societies. The main characters in both works struggled against racism, poverty and trauma as they attempted to construct new lives in the United States.

Economy
Countries with emerging economies often The Second Sudanese Civil War destroyed many sectors of economic activity. The sector with the most damage is the agriculture sector. The conflict forced many farmers to escape the violence and abandon their farmland. Agriculture projects that were meant to improve cultivation methods, some that were funded by the United Nations, were terminated because they were destroyed or people stopped working; such projects include a pump-irrigation system. Additionally, the "animal wealth" of the farmers significantly decreased. Over six million cows, two million sheep, and one million goats were killed during the Second Sudanese Civil War.

A different sector that was affected by the conflict was the industrialized sector, which consists of manufacturing and processing. Manufacturing facilities were unable to produce essential materials, including soap, textiles, sugar, and processed foods. Processed-foods facilities include the preservation of foods, such as canning fruits and vegetables, and vegetable oil production.

Poverty continues to climb and significantly impacts people in rural areas. The destroyed agriculture sector was the primary source of income for about 8 out of 10 households. Living in a rural region is also associated with a lower quality of life because residents lack access to basic services and enough economic opportunities and job opportunities.

Infrastructure
Before the war, Sudan did not have a comprehensive infrastructure system. It lacked roads, bridges, and communications, and led to the existing infrastructure being destroyed. Critical infrastructure, like waterways and canals, were destroyed by airstrikes.

Education
Any conflict is a detriment to education. When Sudan entered war, funding was reduced and reallocated to military and security forces. Sudan's military spending increased from 10 percent to 20 percent, while reducing education spending and other areas. In the post-war era, education was less likely to be funded, less educators are available because of death or injury, and education facilities were destroyed. The result of reduced spending, is the lack of investment in the people and future generations. 42 percent of the Sudanese budget is allocated to military and security expenditures. Furthermore, about 35 percent of the teachers have a primary-level of education. An additional obstacles students face is the forced recruitment into armed militias and state military. According to a United Nations report, 50 percent of Sudanese children do not attend school. Boys and girls, who are in schools, are abducted by soldiers and forced to join the military or armed rebel groups. When they are taken, most girls are raped by their captors and those who resist are killed. Boys are "castrated and sexually mutilated." According to a United Nations report, an estmiated 430 children were victims of sexual violence through military recruitment.

USAID continues to work on educational initiatives, including granting 9,000 scholarships to boys and girls. Currently, USAID has over a dozen educational projects and has constructed 140 primary-level schools and four secondary schools. Over 1.4 million students attend or are involved in USAID educational programs in the region.

Environment
Historically, people have disputed the claim of fertile land and water. The recent discovery of oil is now also a resource that is disputed over. However, despite the availability of oil, Sudan experiences a notion called paradox of the plenty, a phenomenon that occurs when a country has plentiful natural resources—in this case, oil—but struggles to fully compete economically.

Because of displacement, refugees who fled their destroyed homes cut down forests to survive. They used the wood for fuel, building materials, and to find food.

Refugees and Displacement
The war destroyed towns that were once centers of culture and economic activity. The locations where towns were are now empty desert. In conjunction with empty deserts, the culture that was cultivated by the people was lost because the refugees fled north. However, remaining tribes and groups fortified their claim on territory and introduced conflict with one another. In a 2019 article in EthnoPolitics, Jana Krouse goes over how violence and instability leads to the outward flow of displaced people. Specifically, Krouse's article explains how communal violence in South Sudan is intensified and prolonged by the broader instability and regional crises.

Refugee flow continues well past 2012, when “South Sudan–Sudan: State of Emergency” was published. Tensions between the North Sudanese government and the SPLA continued decades after the first wave of displaced peoples fled from South Sudan. Refugees who relocated to other parts of South Sudan soon after faced threats of violence and oftentimes became displaced again.

The continuity of violence across South Sudan has defined the attitudes of South Sudanese living in Khartoum. A University of Khartoum article describes these displaced people as “angry, sad, and disappointed” with the status of South Sudan. The author describes the South Sudanese people as “transnational” and “diasporic”; referring to how widespread displaced people moved as a result of the Second Sudanese Civil War.

Lead
To improve upon this article, I will be searching for precise dates instead of years. I will also attempt to provide more context for the conflict, likely in the form of a brief review of the first Sudanese Civil War.

Article body
I think it would be helpful if I search for an article on war that has an exceptionally strong grade. Seeing which components make a strong article could help me better understand what I need to research. Most of the academic sources I am finding are written from the point of view of political scientists that see the war as a failure by the international community. Searching through video archives, I hope to find more Sudanese sources. While first hand experience can be helpful for understanding the lived experiences of people affected by the war, it is also helpful to balance that perspective with one that emphasizes the macro interactions between states, international organizations and NGOs.