Juba - History

History

In the 19th century, a trading post and a mission was located in the vicinity of Juba called Gondokoro. It was the southernmost outpost of the Egyptian garrison, supported by a handful of soldiers, mostly ill due to the malaria and blackwater fever that was dominant in the region. Gondokoro was also the base of the explorer and campaigner Sir Samuel Baker during his expeditions to what is now Southern Sudan and northern Uganda from 1863 to 1865, and from 1871 to 1873.

In 1922, a small number of Greek traders arrived in the area and established Juba on the western bank of the White Nile. The Greeks, who had excellent relations with the indigenous tribe of Juba (the Bari), built what is known today as the Business District.

From 1899 to 1956, Juba was in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan which was jointly administered by the United Kingdom and Egypt. British hopes to join the southern part of Sudan with Uganda were dashed in 1947 by an agreement in Juba, also known as the Juba Conference, to unify northern and southern Sudan. In 1955, a mutiny of southern soldiers in Torit town sparked the First Sudanese Civil War, which did not end until 1972. During the Second Sudanese Civil War, Juba was a strategic location that was the focus of much fighting.

In 2005, Juba became the interim seat and the capital of the Autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, although the proposed interim capital before the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was Rumbek. With the advent of peace, the United Nations increased its presence in Juba, whereas many Southern Sudan operations had until that time been managed from Kenya. Under the leadership of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations established a camp known as "OCHA Camp", which served as a base for many United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Juba became the world's newest national capital on 9 July 2011, when South Sudan formally declared its independence from the Republic of the Sudan. However, the South Sudanese government and others have expressed dissatisfaction with the city's suitability as a national capital, and the government studied a proposal that would see a new planned city built as a replacement capital elsewhere, most likely Ramciel in Lakes.

On 5 September 2011, the government announced the capital would indeed move to Ramciel, some 250km away from Juba, closer to the border with north Sudan.