This paper reflects international actors’ prevalent and persistent assumptions about South Sudan and illustrates how these have shaped international engagement for the last two decades. Drawing on the eminent “aiding the peace” evaluation report of 2010 and recent developments in South Sudan, this paper offers relevant recommendations for policymakers and practitioners to identify solutions to present dilemmas.
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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.
Abstract Common to most protracted conflicts that relapse into war is a disconnect between elites and local communities, which typically suffer the most when the former undermine peace agreements to further their own narrow interests. The central argument in this chapter, drawing heavily on the recent history of Sudan/South Sudan and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), is that African conflict resolution and peacebuilding relies too heavily on political agreements between politico-military elites. These deals focus…
Abstract In recent years, the transitional justice framework has expanded to include a broader notion of transformative justice, which strives for socio-political reform in addition to legal accountability. Over the course of two civil wars, Sudan has grappled with various attempts at transition and transformation with mixed results. Though the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement brought an end to decades of North–South conflict, South Sudan’s subsequent descent into civil war has been characterised by a flawed…
Examining the experiences of the South since Sudan’s independence, this article analyses why the choice of ‘unity’ became an unrealistic option for South Sudanese. Stressing that self-determination for the South was the only way to resolve Sudan’s long-standing national crisis, this article points out, at the same time, that it left unresolved the issue of self-determination for the peoples of the northern Sudan who joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army and brought new problems, particularly…
Using South Sudan as a case study, this evaluation report focuses on the impact of aid programming in the country from 2005-2011. Specifically, the report identifies several factors that hinder the transition, including the security and governance issues. Finally, the report draws and shares some lessons from transition and recovery programming that can help to promote transition in South Sudan. Read more here
Abyei was one of the most contested areas of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005. Drawing on direct experience, the article examines the agreement and the experience of trying to support its implementation. It analyses the relationship between this and the overall problems of the CPA, and of peacekeeping in the newly independent South Sudan. Drawing on relevant literature, it examines the wider issues for the negotiation of peace agreements; for UN mandates,…
Argues forcefully that the birth of the independent state of Southern Sudan and the threat of further dismemberment of a rump northern Sudan are due to the failure of the approaches and ideologies of the main Sudanese parties, as well as a deeply flawed US-backed peace process that excludes civil society and other rebel groups. Link to publication
Through a chronological analysis of the peace process between 2000 and 2005, this article demonstrates that the scope for compromise was limited and that a significantly ‘better’ deal was unlikely. The article’s ambition is to present a concise and empirically grounded analysis of the CPA peace process and to lay foundations for further investigation of a crucial, contested and complicated subject in Sudan’s recent history. Link to publication
This briefing analyzes the negotiations between the North and the South before the 2011 referendum. Download
Published on the eve of voter registration for the referendum in South Sudan, Race Against Time analyses the unresolved procedural problems, technical difficulties, and disputes threatening the self-determination process. The report includes timelines, a guide to electoral bodies, comparisons with referenda elsewhere and a bibliography of legislative and other documents.
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