Headquartered in Gondokoro near modern day Juba , Equatoria in theory composed most of what is now South Sudan. After being cut off from colonial administration during the Mahdist War from , Equatoria was made a state under the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in It was largely left to itself over the following decades, but Christian missionaries converted much of the population and facilitated the spread of English, rather than Arabic.
Equatoria was ruled by British colonial administrators separately from what is now Sudan until the two colonies were combined at the Juba Conference, as part of British plans to prepare the region for independence. When Sudan gained its independence in , it was with the understanding that the southerners would be able to participate fully in the political system.
When the Arab Khartoum government reneged on its promises, a mutiny began that led to two prolonged periods of conflict and in which perhaps 2. Ongoing peace talks finally resulted in a Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in January As part of this agreement, the south was granted a six-year period of autonomy to be followed by a referendum on final status.
Since independence on 9 July , South Sudan has struggled with good governance and nation building and has attempted to control opposition forces operating in its territory. Economic conditions have deteriorated since January when the government decided to shut down oil production following bilateral disagreements with Sudan. In December , conflict between government and opposition forces killed tens of thousands and led to a dire humanitarian crisis with millions of South Sudanese displaced and food insecure.
The warring parties signed a peace agreement in August that created a transitional government of national unity in April However, in July , fighting broke out in Juba between the two principal signatories, plunging the country back into conflict. A "revitalized" peace agreement was signed in September ending the fighting.
