Southern Sudan is a region of Sudan. The Sudanese government agreed to give autonomy to the region in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on 9th January 2005 in Naivasha , Kenya with the SPLA/M, tentatively bringing an end to the Second Sudanese Civil War. Southern Sudan borders Ethiopia on the east, Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south, and the Central African Republic to the west. To the north lies the predominantly Arab and Muslim region directly under the control of the central government.
The relationship between autonomous Southern Sudan and the neighbouring areas of Blue Nile State, Southern Kordofan, and Abyei has yet to be definitively determined, although for the time being these are effectively part of the North.
Southern Sudan consists of the ten wilayats, or states, formerly part of the provinces of Equatoria (namely Bahr al Jabal, East Equatoria, and West Equatoria), Bahr el Ghazal (North Bahr al Ghazal, West Bahr al Ghazal, and Lakes), and Upper Nile (Junqali, Wahdah, and Upper Nile).
The Southern region has a population of around 6 million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. This region has been negatively affected by war for all but 10 years since independence in 1956, resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructure development, and major destruction and displacement. More than 2 million people have died, and more than 4 million are internally displaced or have become refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts. Here the Sudanese practice mainly indigenous traditional beliefs, although Christian missionaries have converted some. The south also contains many tribal groups and many more languages are used than in the north. The Dinka – whose population is estimated at more than 1 million – is the largest of the many black African tribes of the Sudan. Along with the Shilluk and the Nuer, they are among the Nilotic tribes. The Azande, Bor, and Jo Luo are 'Sudanic' tribes in the west, and the Acholi and Lotuhu live in the extreme south, extending into Uganda.
Pending elections, seats in both the Southern Sudan Assembly and the Government of the Southern Sudan are to be divided in a fixed proportion between the SPLM (70%), the NCP (the former NIF) (15%), and "other Southern political forces" (15%).
The distinctive Juba pidgin Arabic is a widely used lingua franca in Southern Sudan.
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