The overlooked conflict: The civil war pushing South Sudan to the brink | Explained News

The humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also called Doctors Without Borders, has been operating in South Sudan almost since the country’s inception. Its Head of Mission, Yashovardhan, told The Indian Express, “I was in South Sudan in 2014, in Unity State, when the civil war first broke out in December 2013. Hundreds of thousands of people were displaced and put up in the UN peacekeeping mission compound. This time, I went to Jonglei. After 12 years and in two regions, the situation is the same.

People live under the sun with the bare minimum, surviving on wild leaves, berries, and fish. In fact, the UN runs one of its largest food programmes in South Sudan, a country of 12 million people [around the population of Chennai]. People mainly rely on food drops to survive.”

On International Day of Peacekeepers, we honor the memory of Indian peacekeepers Lance Havildar Harbhajan Singh and Naib Subedar Sujit Kumar Pradhan who lost their lives in the line of duty last year.

Lance Havildar Harbhajan Singh, who served with @MONUSCO, and Naib Subedar… pic.twitter.com/cUNeXQhjTN

— United Nations in India (@UNinIndia) May 29, 2026

How did the situation in South Sudan get this bad? Who is fighting whom, and why? We explain.

Born of a violent struggle

South Sudan was created after a long struggle for independence from the Republic of Sudan, itself created in 1956 after British and Egyptian colonial rule ended. The southern region of this nation felt sidelined and unfairly treated, leading to the birth of South Sudan in 2011.

Two leaders of the independence struggle, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, were Salva Kiir, the current President of South Sudan, and Riek Machar, who served as his Vice President when the country gained independence. Kiir soon accused Machar of plotting to overthrow him, and the leadership tussle between them flared up into a civil war in 2013, fuelled by local-level tensions and grievances.

Kiir belongs to the Dinka community, while Machar is from the Nuer group. Their supporters rallied behind them, and the two sides fought brutally.

The latest escalation in South Sudan

After five years of fighting, a peace agreement, ‘Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan’, was signed in 2018. Machar came back as Vice President.

However, many clauses of the agreement, including holding an election, disarming various groups, and punishing those responsible for grave crimes during the war, were never implemented. Tensions between Machar and Kiir continued to simmer.

Then in March 2025, the White Army, a militia that supports Machar, had a skirmish with the Army. Within weeks, Machar was placed under house arrest and over the next few months, charged with various crimes, including murder and treason. Fighting has been raging ever since.

An MSF statement from May says, “MSF is witnessing a sharp increase in the intensity, scale and geographic spread of violence…In 2025, MSF treated 6,095 people for different forms of violence, including gunshot wounds, blast injuries and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), compared with 4,765 people in 2024. In January and February 2026 alone, MSF had already treated more than 1,800 patients affected by violence, including more than 885 survivors of SGBV.”

These are cases that came to the MSF facilities; many more go completely unreported.

Both sides have attacked civilians, and destroyed homes, schools, and civic and medical infrastructure.

Yashovardhan said there have been targeted attacks on medical facilities. “One of our facilities, in Lankien, was bombed. Our medical stores were looted and burnt. The air conditioners were torn down. Essentially, it was left in a shape where it could not be restarted. This was the only facility providing secondary care to 250,000 in Lankien and Jonglei states.” He also said the MSF has struggled to get government permissions to set up medical facilities nearer to vulnerable communities.

There are few opportunities for livelihood, but arms are in abundant supply. Sudan, meanwhile, is having a civil war of its own, and refugees are pouring into South Sudan, further stressing very meagre resources.

Why does South Sudan have so many arms?

People have possessed arms, and the knowledge to use them, since the days of the independence struggle, when the rebels were looting government armouries and the government was arming those loyal to it. Also, the largely pastoral society has had a culture of cattle raids.

To add to that, the conflict in Sudan has seen foreign-made arms pour into the country, some of which cross the border into South Sudan.

Humanitarian crisis in South Sudan

A UN report from April says, “Hunger is pushing 56 per cent of South Sudan’s population into high levels of acute food insecurity between April and July 2026… Through July this year, 700,000 children are projected to face severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form.”

It added that acute malnutrition “is being exacerbated by lack of access to health and nutrition services that have been damaged or closed due to conflict.”

Yashovardhan said the international community needs to pay more attention to South Sudan. “There are no jobs, no security. People are completely dependent on aid. In relief camps, there are 4-5 toilets for about 100 households. There has been an utter normalisation of violence.”