Basketball would appear to be very much beside the point in South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation. Birthed in 2011 in the wake of a civil war in Sudan, the East African country has been wracked by civil war itself, and now is subject to “a dire human rights and humanitarian crisis,” according to the Human Rights Watch.
Violence fomented by what one report identified as “community-based militias” and “civil-defense groups” is commonplace. Refugees continue to flood the country, in the face of ongoing conflict within Sudan’s borders. Food security is an enormous concern.