General Knowledge - PMS 2026 GK (Q1-50): Sudan Civil War / South Sudan Independence MCQs

Correct Answer: 9 July 2011

South Sudan declared independence on 9 July 2011, six years after the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.

Correct Answer: Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) 2005

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January 2005, ended the Second Sudanese Civil War and provided for a referendum on Southern independence.

Correct Answer: 98.83%

In the January 2011 referendum, 98.83% of valid votes were for independence (about 3.79 million yes votes against 44,888 no votes).

Correct Answer: 9-15 January 2011

Voting in the independence referendum ran from 9 to 15 January 2011.

Correct Answer: Sudan

South Sudan seceded from Sudan, becoming independent on 9 July 2011.

Correct Answer: Two major civil wars

There were two major north-south civil wars: the First (1955-1972) and the Second (1983-2005).

Correct Answer: Southern Sudan Autonomous Region

The 2005 CPA created the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, which ran the south until independence in 2011.

Correct Answer: Salva Kiir Mayardit

Salva Kiir Mayardit, who had led Southern Sudan after John Garang's death in 2005, became South Sudan's first president at independence.

Correct Answer: Omar al-Bashir

Omar al-Bashir was president of Sudan in July 2011, when South Sudan seceded.

Correct Answer: South Sudan

South Sudan, independent on 9 July 2011, was the world's newest country at that time.

Correct Answer: Oil

Oil, most of it located in the south, was a central source of north-south tension and of the post-independence revenue dispute.

Correct Answer: United Nations

The United Nations admitted South Sudan on 14 July 2011, as its 193rd member state.

Correct Answer: About 75%

About three-quarters of the former united Sudan's oil reserves lay in what became South Sudan, though the export pipeline ran north through Sudan.

Correct Answer: Abyei

Abyei, on the north-south border, remained disputed after independence, and its promised referendum was never held.

Correct Answer: SPLA/M

The Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) fought the Khartoum government in the Second Sudanese Civil War.

Correct Answer: 27 July 2011

South Sudan became the African Union's 54th member on 27 July 2011, weeks after independence.

Correct Answer: Power struggle between Kiir and Machar

The December 2013 civil war began as a political power struggle between President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Riek Machar, which then took on an ethnic dimension.

Correct Answer: Dinka and Nuer

The civil war's fighting fell largely along Dinka-Nuer lines, Kiir being Dinka and Machar Nuer.

Correct Answer: About 2.5 years

Independence came in July 2011 and civil war broke out in December 2013, about two and a half years later.

Correct Answer: Mass displacement of civilians

The civil war displaced millions of South Sudanese civilians, internally and as refugees in neighbouring countries.

Correct Answer: 2011

South Sudan was admitted to the United Nations on 14 July 2011 as the 193rd member state.

Correct Answer: Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005)

The CPA ended the Second Sudanese Civil War, which ran from 1983 to 2005.

Correct Answer: Millions

The Second Sudanese Civil War alone is estimated to have killed around two million people, through fighting, famine and disease.

Correct Answer: 9 July

South Sudan's Independence Day is 9 July, the date of independence in 2011.

Correct Answer: South Sudan pound

The South Sudanese pound entered circulation shortly after independence in July 2011, replacing the Sudanese pound.

Correct Answer: Political and economic marginalisation of the South

The south's political and economic marginalisation by Khartoum was a long-running driver of both north-south wars.

Correct Answer: About 3.94 million

About 3.94 million people were registered to vote in the 2011 referendum; about 3.84 million valid votes were cast.

Correct Answer: Oil revenue sharing

How to share oil revenue, and the transit fees for southern oil exported through Sudan's pipeline, remained unresolved after independence.

Correct Answer: South Kordofan and Blue Nile

South Kordofan and Blue Nile, the 'Two Areas' north of the border, saw renewed conflict in 2011 as their status under the CPA remained unsettled.

Correct Answer: UNMISS (UN Mission in South Sudan)

Resolution 1996 (8 July 2011) established the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), succeeding UNMIS, which had covered the united Sudan.

Correct Answer: 2012

Fighting over the oil-rich Heglig area broke out in April 2012, when South Sudanese forces briefly occupied it.

Correct Answer: Jonglei, Upper Nile, Unity

The civil war spread earliest and hardest in Jonglei, Upper Nile and Unity states, the oil-producing and cattle-herding heartlands.

Correct Answer: Ethnic tensions and political rivalry

Post-independence violence was driven by ethnic tensions sharpened by the Kiir-Machar political rivalry.

Correct Answer: Six years

The CPA of 2005 granted Southern autonomy six years before independence in 2011.

Correct Answer: Riek Machar

In December 2013 President Kiir accused his dismissed vice president Riek Machar of plotting a coup; Machar denied it, and fighting followed.

Correct Answer: CPA 2005

The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement provided for the 2011 referendum on Southern independence.

Correct Answer: The Nile and tributaries

South Sudan is dominated by the White Nile and its tributaries, including the vast Sudd swamp.

Correct Answer: African Union

The African Union, through its High-Level Implementation Panel chaired by Thabo Mbeki, mediated the post-independence oil and border talks.

Correct Answer: Stateless populations

After secession, people of South Sudanese origin living in Sudan and residents of disputed border areas faced the risk of statelessness as nationality rules changed.

Correct Answer: Ethiopia and Kenya

Ethiopia lies to South Sudan's east and Kenya to its south-east.

Correct Answer: SPLA/M

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement, the political wing of the SPLA, was the dominant party in Southern Sudan before independence.

Correct Answer: Oil shutdown

In January 2012 South Sudan shut down its oil production in the transit-fee dispute with Sudan, halting exports through the northern pipeline.

Correct Answer: Civil war (from 2013)

Unresolved political and ethnic grievances led to civil war from December 2013.

Correct Answer: Juba

Juba, on the White Nile, has been South Sudan's capital since independence.

Correct Answer: About 44,888

44,888 votes were cast against independence in the 2011 referendum, against 3,792,518 for it.

Correct Answer: Ethnic targeting

The civil war involved targeted killings along ethnic lines, notably of Dinka and Nuer civilians.

Correct Answer: Al-Sudd swamp

The Sudd, one of the world's largest wetlands, covers much of central South Sudan along the White Nile.