This report presents the results from a survey of the political economy of checkpoints along the major trade routes in South Sudan. Between April 2019 and April 2021, enumerators made 13 journeys along major overland and river routes and collected detailed information on the number and location of checkpoints, who operates them, who pays, and how much. The study’s lead authors also conducted interviews with, and consulted data provided by, a variety of stakeholders in…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
This paper provides an overview of land governance as it relates to problems of conflict and displacement in South Sudan. The goal is to help aid actors better understand the context in which they are operating and how they might limit the potential for unintended consequences from their interventions and maximise the contribution that they make to social cohesion and conflict transformation. The study focused on three subnational locations – Bor, Wau and Yambio –…
Resilience has been a commonly used concept among development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding actors in South Sudan for some years and putting it into practice has become increasingly relevant in the current context. There are a variety of ways in which resilience is interpreted and practiced in South Sudan. This can impact on coordination and learning efforts among donors and aid agencies, as well as dynamics within coordination fora, and conflict dynamics among South Sudanese communities….
Disarmament is often characterized as a necessary condition for peace to prevail in the aftermath of civil conflicts. Yet implementation is contingent on what has been negotiated behind closed doors, a process that so far has received little attention. Without knowledge of the positions, motivations, and interests of parties involved in disarmament negotiations, our understanding of particular disarmament outcomes remains incomplete. To fill this gap, we examined negotiations on disarmament in Colombia, Nepal, the Philippines,…
This memo summarises research on local agreements and community level mediation undertaken by the Conflict Research Programme (CRP) in five sites – DRC, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria in collaboration with the Political Settlements Research Programme (PSRP) and the Center for Security Studies in Zurich, Switzerland. The overall conclusion is that local talks and community-level mediation can contribute to a peace logic. They are more likely to contribute to do so if they involve…
In the early hours of the morning of 24 May 2013, a group of South Sudanese vigilantes attacked the town of Obo in the Central African Republic (CAR), having covered the distance of 100 km from the South Sudan/CAR border to Obo on foot. An unprovoked international attack in violation of CAR’s sovereignty could be interpreted as an act of aggression under international law. At the least, one would expect subsequent diplomatic frostiness between the…
This memo summarises research on security and justice from CRP’s five sites – DRC, Iraq, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria – plus additional research on Sudan. Findings suggests that standard strategies for security and justice reform are routinely undermined by the dynamics of conflict. Security Sector Reform (SSR) and Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) policies often end up providing a mechanism through which different factions engaged in conflict can compete for funding, status, and participation…
The UN Security Council Resolution 2250 on youth, peace and security (2015) calls for youth to be included in peace negotiations worldwide. In South Sudan, where 70 percent of the population is below the age of 30, youth have been included in the national dialogue aiming at ending violence and conflict in the country. A year after the dialogue ended, however, youth delegates are still waiting for a breakthrough as violence continues and tension is…
This paper examines how land governance – or the rules, processes, and structures through which decisions are made about access to land and its use, the manner in which the decisions are implemented and enforced, and the way that competing interests in land are managed – has interacted with the conflict in South Sudan. A theme running through the paper is that control over decisions relating to land, as much as control over the land…
South Sudan’s Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity provides a roadmap to resolve the country’s civil war. But the transition has not been smooth due to profound structural political disputes, deep-seated corruption, inter-communal conflicts and a shrinking economic base. This report analyses the challenges facing the transitional government and the opportunities for stabilisation. Download
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