# Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war

Date: 2013

## The fact

On 15 December 2013 fighting in Juba between forces loyal to President [Salva Kiir](/people/salva-kiir) and forces loyal to dismissed vice-president Riek Machar opened the South Sudanese civil war. Kiir accused Machar of a coup. Machar denied it. Later UN and AU products recorded mass killings. Those tallies are contested.

## Context

The fighting followed the July 2013 sackings. Machar is unresolved.

15 December Juba fighting; later 2018 agreement stored as neighbourhood. Keep Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war on 2013-12-15 separate from neighbouring Kiir instruments.

The President of South Sudan is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can sack a vice-president, announce an election delay, and sign a constitutional amendment. He does not write UN Commission statements, AP dispatches, or IPC caseloads.

## Evidence and sources

Reuters carries the official instrument or communique. BBC News records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is the owned oil-patronage driver: a completed elite war after the July purge.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Fighting in Juba on 15 December 2013 opened a civil war between Kiir’s and Machar’s forces.

Not established: A unique death integer reconciling later UN and AU products, or that Machar is minted.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Sharing the outbreak with Machar is not a reason to drop 15 December 2013.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war, not a later speech about Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war on 2013-12-15 is not a licence to treat every later Reuters communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Fighting in Juba opens the South Sudanese civil war into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He was president and commander when Juba fought. Sharing the outbreak with Machar is not a reason to drop 15 December 2013. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Salva Kiir: https://factrail.ai/people/salva-kiir

## Drivers

- Civic Space: https://factrail.ai/drivers/civic-space
- Kiir oil patronage rule: https://factrail.ai/drivers/kiir-oil-patronage-rule

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-25396853
- https://www.reuters.com/article/world/south-sudan-descends-into-chaos-as-rival-forces-battle-in-capital-idUSBRE9BE04G/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ss-kiir-juba-2013