A Look Back at 2014 in South Sudan in Tumult

The shadow of violence hung over South Sudan throughout 2014 as fighting that erupted in Juba in December 2013 spread around the country. Numerous peace deals were signed, but broken almost immediately, and by the end of the year, the violence was still flaring in parts of the young nation.

January

Opposition leader Riek Machar, who is accused of triggering country-wide violence by launching a failed coup against President Salva Kiir on Dec. 15, 2013, puts the blame on Mr. Kiir himself for the unrest gripping South Sudan.

Jan. 1, 2014 - Riek Machar blames President Salva Kiir for violence sweeping South Sudan.

Regional bloc IGAD brokers a cessation of hostilities deal for South Sudan. Both sides blame the other when the deal is violated within hours.

January 2014: South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei blames rebels as hours-old peace deal is broken.

January 2014: South Sudan opposition military spokesman Lul Ruai Koang blames the government for breaking cessation of hostilities deal.

February

Riek Machar says the opposition is now an organized resistance movement, called the SPLM/SPLA.

Riek Machar says the rebels have organized themselves into a resistance movement.

March

New fighting breaks out at the Giada barracks in Juba. Information Minister Michael Makuei tries to explain away the incident, which was triggered by a pay dispute among SPLA soldiers.

Michael Makuei on March unrest at Giada barracks in Juba.

Makuei says journalists are barred by law from broadcasting or publishing interviews with rebels, inside South Sudan.

John Tanza Talks with South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei about media rights.

April

Fighting rakes the Unity state capital, Bentiu, which falls to the rebels on April 17. Days later, the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) accuses the rebels of killing civilians in Bentiu after seizing control of the town.

UNMISS spokesman Joe Contreras on alleged ethnic killings in Bentiu.

Hours after Bentiu falls, armed men force their way into the UNMISS camp in Bor, Jonglei state, and open fire on thousands of South Sudanese who have sought shelter from the fighting. The government blames the Bor attack on U.N. peacekeepers, but later retracts the accusation.

South Sudan government says UNMISS to blame for deadly attack on Bor protection of civilians site.

May

South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin addresses a donor conference for South Sudan in Oslo, Norway, in May 2014.

​The international community gathers in Norway for a donor conference for South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by five months of fighting and aid organizations are warning of famine if nothing is done to help. Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin tells donor nations at the conference not to be too harsh on South Sudan.

Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin likens South Sudan to a naughty child.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield objects to Marial's analogy.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Linda Thomas-Greenfield at Oslo donor conference.

June

Several lawmakers and a senior diplomat step down to protest the conflict in South Sudan. Among them is South Sudan's former head of mission to Belgium and the EU, and permanent representative to the United Nations, Francis Nazario.

South Sudanese diplomat Francis Nazario explains why he quit his post and left the country.

The army says the number of soldiers who are deserting is up, but SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer says desertion is no more than an administrative issue.

SPLA spokesman Philip Aguer on increasing number of desertions.

July

Civilians arrive at the UNMISS compound adjacent to Juba International Airport to take refuge, Dec. 17, 2013. (UNMISS)

Tens of thousands of South Sudanese mark their country's third anniversary of independence inside UNMISS camps, where they sought shelter when the fighting broke out seven months ago.

William Bol, one of tens of thousands of South Sudanese who celebrated independence day inside an UNMISS camp.

August

At the end of a visit to South Sudan, the head of the U.N. Security Council says he has little hope that the conflict will be resolved quickly.

U.N. Security Council President Mark Lyall Grant on prospects for peace in South Sudan.

Susan Page leaves her post as the first U.S. ambassador to South Sudan.

U.S. Ambassador Susan Page: "Bittersweet departure" from South Sudan

September

Makuei says journalists who report the views of rebels are "agitators".

Michael Makuei: journalists who disseminate rebel views are agitators.

Media rights group the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) calls for the release of reporter George Livio, who has been held without charge or access to his family or a lawyer for nearly three weeks.

CPJ's Tom Rhodes on media rights in South Sudan.

Justice Minister Paulino Waniwilla Unango tells the U.N. Human Rights Council that the conflict in South Sudan has no ethnic overtones.

South Sudan Justice Minister Paulino Waniwilla Unango addresses U.N. Human Rights Council, Sept. 2014.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, who is heading an African Union Commission of Inquiry investigating human rights abuses during the conflict in South Sudan, disagrees with Unango.

Former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo addresses the U.N. Human Rights Council about South Sudan, Sept. 2014

President Salva Kiir addresses the 69th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2014.

President Salva Kiir trumpets his government's unwavering effort to end the war in South Sudan, in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. He also repeats his assertion that the conflict was started by a failed coup, led by Machar.

Excerpts from President Salva Kiir's Sept. 27, 2014 speech to the U.N. General Assembly.

October

In a major policy speech on South Sudan, U.S. Special Envoy Donald Booth blames weak leadership for the ongoing conflict, and calls for the U.N. to join the United States, European Union and Canada, and impose targeted sanctions on those responsible for the violence in the young country.

Excerpts from U.S. Special Envoy for South Sudan and Sudan Donald Booth's policy speech on South Sudan.

November

In the wake of new fighting in two South Sudanese states, the president of the Security Council expresses frustration at the unwillingness of the warring sides to abandon the military option and engage in peace talks.

U.N. Security Council President Gary Quinlan on South Sudan.

Taban Deng Gai (L), lead negotiator for the South Sudanese armed opposition, exchanges a signed recommitment to stop hostilities with Nhial Deng, lead government negotiator, at an IGAD summit in Ethiopia on Nov. 9, 2014. Riek Machar (C) looks on.

The regional bloc mediating peace talks for South Sudan says the two sides in the conflict have once again agreed to abide by the January cessation of hostilities agreement. IGAD gives the two sides 15 days to firm up the details of a transitional government for South Sudan.

Lead opposition negotiator at South Sudan peace talks, Taban Deng Gai, on power-sharing agreement.

December

Information Minister Makuei plays down South Sudan's inclusion by Transparency International as one of the world's most corrupt nations.

Michael Makuei dismisses Transparency International report on corruption.

Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin pleads during a visit to the United States for help, not punishment for South Sudan.

Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin says South Sudan needs help, not punishment.

Former U.S. Ambassador to South Sudan, Susan Page.

On the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of fighting in South Sudan, former U.S. Ambassador to Juba Susan Page says the young country began lurching toward conflict months before fighting broke out in December 2013.

Former U.S. ambassador to Juba Susan Page on tensions building prior to outbreak of violence on Dec. 15, 2013.