Donate NowThe people of South Sudan realized the full effect of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Deal that ended Africa's longest-running civil war when they voted to secede from Sudan on July 9, 2011. After celebrating their independence, the citizens of Africa's newest nation began looking inward.
The Pulitzer Center sat down with Traci Cook, resident director in South Sudan for the National Democratic Institute, which conducted a survey in South Sudan. The survey's goal was to determine what South Sudanese feel are the biggest issues facing their country, and to understand what their desires and expectations are going forward.
Cook said the people of South Sudan fear the institutionalization of tribalism because it creates an imbalance of power and gives way to unfair government employment practices. The survey showed the South Sudanese people's willingness to work on nation building by identifying with everyone in the country and not just their individual tribe.
The survey also underscored concern about how control over South Sudan's oil-driven economy would affect a relationship with the north. Survey participants said they were against paying pipeline transit fees to their former rulers in the the north.