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The Republic of South Sudan became an independent country on July 9, 2011. Independence was a jewel in the crown of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement’s long implementation process. Signed in January 2005, the peace agreement ended two long periods of civil war, which raged between 1955–1972 and 1983–2005. These wars were characterized not only by confrontations between northern and southern Sudanese, but also by repeated clashes between different southern factions. These wars involved a great deal of outside interference, particularly from neighboring countries.