Jok Weighs In on the Impact of South Sudan’s 15 Years of Independence in Al Jazeera Article

July 9, 2026

Al Jazeera

Jok Madut Jok

Anthropology Department

Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict & Collaboration

Africa (Sub-Saharan)

Government

Al Jazeera

Jok Madut Jok

Fifteen years after South Sudan's independence, most promises of the new nation remain unfulfilled: the country faces entrenched poverty, ongoing violence, delayed elections and worsening hunger despite substantial oil revenue.

Experts note that economic gains from oil have not reached most citizens, leaving South Sudan ranked among the poorest and most fragile states in the world.

“South Sudan at the moment is a failed promise,” says Jok Madut Jok, professor of anthropology. “South Sudanese who had lived under brutal regimes in Sudan and had been excluded from money and development programmes, and were victims of security operations in the southern part, had hung their hopes on independence.”

Read more in the Al Jazeera article, “In maps and charts: South Sudan’s 15 years of independence.”