Sudan was once home to a great civilisation that was the most advanced in all of Africa – but centuries of colonialism and conflict and a post-independence period ravaged by coups, dictatorships and incompetent rule, mired Sudan in a series of never-ending wars. Following a violent, decades-long struggle for independence that began in 1953, South Sudan became the newest country in Africa. Its people voted for independence in 2011, but by 2013 the oil-rich, fertile nation was falling apart.