South Sudanese soldiers cross the Nile River on a tank near Malakal in Upper Nile State on October 16, 2016, two days after heavy fighting broke out in villages near Malakal.
On its 14th anniversary of independence, South Sudan teeters on the edge as the 2018 peace accord collapses under fresh fighting, political purges and ethnic tension.
Fourteen years after it raised its flag as the world’s newest country, South Sudan is adrift. The hopes for peace, unity and stability have all but collapsed. On July 9, 2025, while officials delivered ceremonial speeches in Juba, renewed fighting in Western Equatoria State told a grimmer story—a peace deal gasping its last breath, and a country lurching back towards the abyss.
