South Sudanese Civil War in the context of "South Sudan"

A failed state is a state that has lost its ability to fulfill fundamental security and development functions, lacking effective control over its territory and borders. Common characteristics of a failed state include a government incapable of tax collection, law enforcement, security assurance, territorial control, political or civil office staffing, and infrastructure maintenance. When this happens, widespread corruption and criminality, the intervention of state and non-state actors, the appearance of refugees and the involuntary movement of populations, sharp economic decline, and military intervention from both within and outside the state are much more likely to occur.

Originating in the 1990s, the term was initially applied to characterize the situation in Somalia. The country descended into disorder following a coup that ousted its dictator, Siad Barre, in 1991, leading to internal conflicts among the country's clans. In the early 2020s, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Libya, Mali, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen have all been described as failed states. There are concerns that Venezuela may be on path to becoming a failed state in the near future.

South Sudan, located in northeast Africa, has seen the number of slayings of journalists jump since the start of the South Sudanese Civil War in 2013. The number of journalists killed in 2015 jumped to seven, the most in a single year in South Sudan's history. After President Salva Kiir made threatening comments about journalists, journalist Peter Julius Moi was killed, and press freedom groups responded critically to his statements. Reporters Without Borders, a group that monitors the safety and rights of journalists worldwide, ranked South Sudan as 125th for press freedom out of a possible 180 nations. No one has been charged with any of the killings.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; Arabic: الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān) is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA; a key belligerent of the Second Sudanese Civil War) in 1983. On January 9, 2005 the SPLA, the SPLM and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the civil war. SPLM then obtained representation in the Government of Sudan, and was the main constituent of the Government of the then semi-autonomous Southern Sudan. When South Sudan became a sovereign state on 9 July 2011, SPLM became the ruling party of the new republic. SPLM branches in Sudan separated themselves from SPLM, forming the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North. Further factionalism appeared as a result of the 2013–2014 South Sudanese Civil War, with President Salva Kiir leading the SPLM-Juba and former Vice President Riek Machar leading the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.

Although the party has not adhered to one consistent ideology since the independence of South Sudan and many factions exist, it has been described as "being on the left of centre ideological[ly] speaking," and section IV.2 of the party manifesto states support for a regulated market economy with similar elements to social democracy.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (abbreviated SPLM-IO), also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly South Sudanese political party and rebel group that split from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 2013, due to political tensions between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar over leadership of the SPLM. Tensions grew between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar and South Sudan plunged into the South Sudanese Civil War.

The party and militia are led by Riek Machar. Machar appointed General Simon Gatwech Dual as Army Chief of General Staff, deputized by the Deputy Chief of General Staffs for operations, training, political and moral orientation, logistics, administration and finance. In June 2021, Machar removed General Gatwech Dual from the position and appointed him into the Presidency as an adviser. Gatwech however, rejected the new role, rejected Machar's leadership of the SPLM/A-IO, and declared himself interim leader, which led to fighting between Machar allies and those loyal to Gen. Gatwech formerly known as the Kit-Gwang faction throughout 2021.

Genocidal rape, a form of wartime sexual violence, is the action of a group which has carried out acts of mass rape and gang rapes, against its enemy during wartime as part of a genocidal campaign. During the Armenian genocide, the Greek genocide, the Assyrian genocide, the second Sino-Japanese war, the Holocaust, the Genocide of Serbs in Croatia, the Bangladesh genocide, the Yugoslav Wars (particularly the Bosnian and Kosovo Wars), the Rwandan genocide, the Tamil genocide, the Circassian genocide, the Congolese conflicts, the War in Darfur, the South Sudanese Civil War, the Yazidi Genocide, and Rohingya genocide, mass rapes that had been an integral part of those conflicts brought the concept of genocidal rape to international prominence. Although war rape has been a recurrent feature in conflicts throughout human history, it has usually been looked upon as a by-product of conflict and not an integral part of military policy.