The article examines how the South Sudanese civil war has impacted the social and political landscape of Gambella, Ethiopia’s western region with strong social, economic and political ties with South Sudan.
The simmering political tension in the newly independent South Sudan exploded in December 2013 when forces loyal to the government led by President Salva Kiir and his former vice president Dr Riek Machar clashed and the conflict then spiralled into a civil war engulfing the whole country. The on-going civil war in South Sudan has a regional dimension; not only because of neighbouring countries intervening and taking sides with one or the other faction but also with its spill-over effect in the neighbouring countries.