 | This article needs to be updated.(June 2023) |
Ramciel | |
|---|---|
  Ramciel | |
| Coordinates: 6°23′48.57″N30°56′4.18″E / 6.3968250°N 30.9344944°E | |
| Country |  South Sudan |
| State | Lakes State |
| County | Yirol East County |
| Malek Payam | Thian Boma |
| Time zone | +2 (CAT) |
Ramciel is located in Yirol East County, in Lakes States, in the Bahr el Ghazal region of South Sudan. It has been proposed to be the future national capital.
Ramciel is about 250 kilometres (155 miles) north of Juba. There is currently no tarmacked road between Juba and Ramciel, but it is estimated that it will take under three hours to travel on a rough road to Juba. Under ideal conditions, it would also probably take about three hours to travel to Rumbek and up to six hours to Wau from Ramciel.
The largest grass swamp in the world, the Sudd, lies in the middle of Greater Bahr el Ghazal and Greater Upper Nile, thus making direct road communications between towns located at the opposite four corners of the Sudd practically impossible; thus the need to go around the swamp, which currently makes both Malakal and Bentiu inaccessible by road from the south and west in the wet season from June to November. [1]
The inhabitants of Ramciel are mainly Ciec Dinka. Ramciel is located in the territory of Thian Boma of Malek Payam, Yirol East county, Lakes State. The land is used for grazing and cultivation during the dry season and in the Nile marshes during the wet season. There are conflicting reports over its suitability for large-scale construction, with some characterizing the area as woodland & grassland, and others contending that the rocky highlands can support a major city if one were to be built there.
In early February 2011, what was then the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan adopted a resolution to find a new capital for South Sudan. [2] Ramciel was one of the two proposed locations for the site. Lakes Governor Chol Tong Mayay visited Ramciel later in the month to raise attention for its bid to be the site of the new capital. "The late Dr John Garang promised to build Ramciel as the capital of South Sudan and having it here will be a dream come true." [3] Just prior to South Sudanese independence in July 2011, a government spokesman confirmed the federal government of the country was still considering building a new capital at Ramciel. [4] On 2 September, the federal cabinet voted to designate Ramciel as the site for a planned city, to be demarcated from Lakes State. Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said the move would likely take three to five years to complete and would be conducted in stages. [5]
Vice President Riek Machar said in mid-December 2011 that the government of South Sudan is planning to build a major international airport in a free trade zone to be established in Tali Payam of Terkeka County which borders Awerial (Aliab) County on the South West approximately 50 km away from Ramciel. Machar suggested that this airport could handle traffic from large cargo planes for which other regional airports are not designed, an asset that would be vital to realising Machar's vision for South Sudan to become a trade hub in the center of the African continent. [6] Machar also visited Kenisa ( panhom) where port will be constructed.
A contract was awarded in 2012 to conduct a survey and feasibility study of the site. [7] The proposed area has been visited multiple times by Vice President Riek Machar. [8]
The South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) is an armed group that operates in the Upper Nile Region of South Sudan. The group's creation was announced in November 1999 by people of the Nuer ethnicity who were in both the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government-allied South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) gathered in Waat. The SSLM was declared to be unaligned in the Second Sudanese Civil War, then entering its sixteenth year. The name "South Sudan Liberation Movement" was decided upon the next year, borrowing from the earlier Southern Sudan Liberation Movement, which existed in the 1980s.
Juba is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the most recently declared national capital and had a population of 525,953 in 2017. It has an area of 52 km2 (20 sq mi), with the metropolitan area covering 336 km2 (130 sq mi).
Bor is a historic city in the Bor region of Jonglei State, located in the central region of South Sudan. It has also served as the headquarters of Jonglei state. The city is situated on the east side of the White Nile at the southern extent of the sudd, South Sudan's vast central wetlands.
Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is a South Sudanese politician who has served as the First Vice President of South Sudan since 2020.
Bentiu, also spelled Bantiu, is a city in South Sudan. It is the capital of Unity State.
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the military force of the Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War, led by John Garang. After Garang's death in 2005, Salva Kiir was named the SPLA's new Commander-in-Chief. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers.
Yirol is a city in South Sudan.
The Southern Sudan Autonomous Region was an autonomous region that existed in southern Sudan between 1972 and 1983. It was established on 28 February 1972 by the Addis Ababa Agreement which ended the First Sudanese Civil War. The region was abolished on 5 June 1983 by the administration of Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry. Revocation of southern autonomy was one of the causes of the Second Sudanese Civil War which would continue until January 2005, when southern autonomy was restored; the region became the independent Republic of South Sudan in 2011.
The States of South Sudan were created out of the three historic former provinces of Bahr el Ghazal (northwest), Equatoria (southern), and Greater Upper Nile (northeast). The states are further divided into 79 counties.
The Jonglei Canal was a canal project started, but never completed, to divert water from the vast Sudd wetlands of South Sudan so as to deliver more water downstream to Sudan and Egypt for use in agriculture. Sir William Garstin proposed the idea of the canal in 1907; the government of Egypt conducted a study in 1946; and plans took shape between 1954 and 1959 during the period of decolonization which included Sudanese independence in 1956. Against the context of Sudan's postcolonial civil conflict, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), led by John Garang, halted construction of the canal in 1984.
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the west by the Central African Republic. South Sudan's diverse landscape includes vast plains and plateaus, dry and tropical savannahs, inland floodplains, and forested mountains. The Nile River system is the defining physical feature of the country, running south to north across its center, which is dominated by a large swamp known as the Sudd. South Sudan has a population of 12.7 million. Juba is the capital and largest city.
The geography of South Sudan describes the physical features of South Sudan, a country in East Africa. South Sudan is a landlocked country and borders – clockwise – Sudan from the north, Ethiopia from the east, Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo from the south and the Central African Republic from the west.
The history of South Sudan comprises the history of the territory of present-day South Sudan and the peoples inhabiting the region.
Mongalla or Mangalla is a Payam in Juba County, Central Equatoria State in South Sudan, on the east side of the Bahr al Jebel or White Nile river. It lies about 75 km by road northeast of Juba. The towns of Terekeka and Bor lie downstream, north of Mongalla.
Tito Biel Chuor was a high-ranking commander in the South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).
Ethnic violence in South Sudan has a long history among South Sudan's varied ethnic groups. South Sudan has 64 tribes with the largest being the Dinka, who constitute about 35% of the population and predominate in government. The second largest are the Nuers. Conflict is often aggravated among nomadic groups over the issue of cattle and grazing land and is part of the wider Sudanese nomadic conflicts.
The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan fought from 2013 to 2020, between forces of the government and opposition forces. The Civil War caused rampant human rights abuses, including forced displacement, ethnic massacres, and killings of journalists by various parties. Since its end South Sudan has been governed by a coalition formed by leaders of the former warring factions, Salva Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar. In 2024, the country continues to recover from the war while experiencing ongoing and systemic ethnic violence.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, 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.
Eastern Lakes State was a state in South Sudan that existed between 2 October 2015 and 22 February 2020. It was located in the Bahr el Ghazal region and it bordered Southern Liech to the north, Western States to the west, Amadi to the southwest, Terekeka to the southeast, and Jonglei to the east.
Isaiah Kulang Mabor DengDak Anguany was a South Sudanese politician who was Minister for Communications, Transport and Roads and member of the People's Regional Assembly, in the capital of Juba, serving as Speaker of the House between 1979 and 1980. Kulang was a prominent member of the Southern Front by then and in the late 1980s he participated actively in founding the United Sudan African Party (USAP).