TOEFL Test Centers in South Sudan

EDU February 16, 2019

Region	Testing Format	Fee	Test Dates
Juba (Code: G350)	TOEFL Paper Testing	$180 $180 $180 $180	Sat., Oct 13, 2018 Sat., Nov 10, 2018 Sat., Feb 09, 2019 Sat., Apr 13, 2019

South Sudan Overview

South Sudan borders Sudan to the north, Ethiopia to the east, Kenya to the southeast, Uganda to the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the southwest and the Central African Republic to the west .

South Sudan is characterized by the flood and swamp landscape of the Sudd, which is traversed by the White Nile. Depending on the water inflow, the extent of the South Sudan varies between 55,000 and 150,000 km ². The highest point in the country (Kinyeti: 3,187 m above sea level) is in the south on the border with Uganda.

History

Before the 10th century, Dinka, Nuer, Shilluk immigrated to the area, which in the 19th century became a center of the slave trade under Ottoman-Egyptian influence. Great Britain took action against this from 1870 onwards. After the fall of Mahdi State, the South Sudan region became part of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in 1899. Supported by the British colonial authorities, Christian missionaries developed an intensive missionary activity and thus ousted Islam. After a failed uprising against British colonial rule in 1924 under the leadership of the South Sudanese Ali Abdel Latif, a Muslim Dinka, the British sought greater independence for Christian South Sudan from the Islamic-Arab north, the base of the Egyptian nationalists. The Arab influence in trade and administration was massively pushed back and the area became a closed district. This strategy was enshrined in the 1930 Declaration of South Sudan Policy. However, the British approach destroyed established economic ties and led to negative economic development. Ideas of merging the south with Uganda could not be realized at a conference on the future of North and South Sudan in Juba in 1947. In 1955 a secessionist uprising began in the Christian south, which on January 1, 1956 became part of the independent Sudan. After the temporary end of the civil war, the southern provinces were given extensive autonomy in 1972. In 1980, the discovery of oil prompted the Sudanese regime to change the demarcation to the disadvantage of the southern provinces. In 1983 the civil war broke out again. It could only be ended after more than 20 years on January 9, 2005 with a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLM (Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement). On July 9, 2005, a transitional constitution for Sudan came into force. The SPLM leader John Garang (* 1945) became President of South Sudan. After his death on August 11, 2005, Salva Kiir Mayardit took over the presidency. In the period that followed, tensions between South Sudan and the Sudanese central government continued. In 2008 fighting broke out over the Abyei area, which is controversial because of its oil deposits. Salva Kiir Mayardit was confirmed as president in April 2010 with 93.0% of the votes. In the parliamentary elections held at the same time, the SPLM party he led won 159 out of 170 seats.

As agreed in the peace agreement of 2005, a referendum took place in South Sudan on January 9, 2011, in which 98.8% of the voters were in favor of independence, which was proclaimed on July 9, 2011. Salva Kiir Mayardit became the first president of the independent state. On July 14, 2011, the country was admitted to the United Nations. The peace mission UNMISS (UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan) was deployed to support and secure the establishment of a state. The disputes with Sudan over the distribution of oil revenues and the drawing of borders put a strain on the construction of the new state from the start. In August 2011, fighting between rival tribal militias in eastern Jonglei state resulted in at least 600 deaths. Rebel groups that had split off from the government army destabilized the states of Upper Nile and Unity. South Sudan accused the Sudanese government of supporting the rebels. In January 2012 the conflict over oil revenues between the two countries escalated when South Sudan imposed a production and delivery freeze. Sudanese and South Sudanese units subsequently fought for control of the Heglig oil field. After troop withdrawals and international mediation efforts, peace talks took place in Addis Ababa, which led to the signing of an agreement on September 27, 2012 to end the border and oil conflict. Nonetheless, tensions between the two countries persisted as the agreement was only implemented slowly.

In July 2013, against the background of internal government disputes, President Kiir dismissed first Vice-President Riek Machar (* 1953), who had previously announced his candidacy for the 2015 presidential elections, along with other cabinet members. On December 15, 2013, bloody fighting broke out between troop units that supported the president and units loyal to Riek Machar. Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, threw Machar, a member of the Nuer ethnic group, proposed to carry out a coup. At the center of serious disputes were among others. Bor in Jonglei State and Bentiu in Unity State. On December 24, 2013, the UN Security Council decided to increase personnel for the UNMISS. The struggles, which were mainly fought over oil resources, subsequently developed into a bloody civil war, also marked by ethnic differences, and led to a humanitarian catastrophe. Around 4.2 million people were displaced in 2013–17 due to fighting, violence and food shortages, and tens of thousands lost their lives. According to UN figures from June 2018, around 7 million people were dependent on food aid. The UN Human Rights Council accused the conflicting parties of serious human rights violations, including arbitrary killings of civilians, torture and mass rape, recruitment of child soldiers, kidnapping and looting; a February 2018 report accused President Kiir’s forces of war crimes and crimes against humanity.