The British colonial authorities labeled them "the disturbances of the southern provinces," marking the onset of agitation for statehood in South Sudan. These disturbances escalated into a full-scale civil war in Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper Nile Provinces, leading Khartoum to dub them "the problem of southern Sudan." The SPLM/A, refusing to accept this characterization, termed it "a general problem of the Sudan only peculiarized in Southern Sudan." On July 9, 2011, Southern Sudan became the Republic of South Sudan.The Problems of South Sudan' signify the compounding effects of centuries-old poverty, ignorance, superstition, and cultural backwardness, obstructing the populace's perception of reality.

These issues manifest in various forms: ethnic nationalism, power and resource rivalries, civil war, ethnic military factions, weakening state structures, societal inequality, governmental corruption, ongoing transitions from war to peace, and natural and man made disasters such as floods, famine, and pandemics like Covid-19. The IGAD power-sharing formula has failed to address these issues. Independence arrived prematurely, before South Sudanese patriotism could override ethnic chauvinism and parochialism.