"South Sudan's ethnic conflict has a whole lot to do with oil"

The civil war in South Sudan is flaring up again, and the security situation in the country is becoming more dire by the day. Reports are surfacing of increasing brutality against civilians caught between the government and opposition fighters, who are divided largely along ethnic lines...At a glance, the conflict would seem to be a war between the two biggest ethnic groups in South Sudan, the Dinka and the Nuer. The journalist killed in the compound raid, for example, was shot immediately after being identified as a Nuer by Dinka soldiers...

But the civil war has its roots in a conflict that began decades ago and touches on control of land and natural resources, including a vast oil wealth. When South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011, it got most of the oil fields, while Sudan controlled the means of exporting the oil, setting the stage for a war that has often focused on oil-producing areas..."The conflict is therefore not a simple, binary competition between the Government and SPLM/A in Opposition and their respective tribal bases," the experts wrote, using the acronym for Machar's armed faction. It is instead "a multifaceted war where allegiances shift rapidly depending on access to resources, unaddressed grievances and the opportunity for individual politicians and military commanders to exploit the situation to press for military and political advantage."