South Sudan: can Africa’s problem child grow into a valuable partner?
South Sudan's first year of life has been marred by political uncertainty, lawlessness and an oil dispute. Its east African neighbours are watching for opportunities but wary of investing. … Magdi El Gizouli, a fellow at the Rift Valley Institute, says South Sudan risks becoming a "fulcrum of insecurity" and a conduit for weapons because […]
Sudan: Bashir – Sharia Shopping
By Magdi El Gizouli Obviously challenged by the stubborn show of anger against their long rule in the heartland of the country the high priests of the National Congress Party (NCP) shifted gears from unashamed dismissal to defensive posturing with sharia. “What is happening is a struggle between the camp of sharia and the camp […]
Conflict-hit Sudanese may go hungry despite aid deal
Hunger is likely to persist among people caught up in conflict in Sudan’s border states, despite a government promise to allow food relief into areas that aid groups warn are on the verge of famine. Sudan agreed on June 27 to a plan proposed earlier this year by the African Union, United Nations and Arab […]
‘It’s Basically Over’: The Sudanese Dictatorship’s Dwindling Options
On September 27, one of the most repressive governments on earth was thrown a lifeline. After an eight-month standoff that ravaged the two countries' economies and brought them to the brink of war, North and South Sudan resolved a long-simmering dispute over how to divide their oil revenue, the primary source of tension after the […]
The Yarmouk Complex – Sudan in the World
By Magdi El Gazouli Sudan's Military Industry Corporation (MIC), established according to its website in 1993, has as its motto the phrase 'for peace we gather all our effort'. The phrase mocks the fact that the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) which grew out of the Egyptian-clad and British-disciplined Sudan Defence Force (SDF) has been consumed […]
Sudan minister says 600 killed in Sudan warzone
More than 600 people have been killed since rebels began an uprising in two Sudanese states last year, the interior minister said on Tuesday, but an analyst called the figure meaningless. Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed, giving a rare casualty count, said in a report to parliament that 296 people were killed in South Kordofan last year […]
Kiir and Bashir: brothers in oil
By Magdi El Gazouli Sudan and South Sudan signed on Thursday a battery of eight agreements covering oil and other economic concerns, border security, monitoring and demarcation, the status of nationals in the other state, and trade next to other outstanding post-secession issues, and crowned the set with a global cooperation agreement worthy of the […]
A house of mud: Sudanese reads of Egypt
By Magdi El-Gizouli August 26, 2013 – When Adly Mansour was installed interim president of Egypt by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the de factor ruler of the country, President Bashir eschewed the courtesy of congratulating his official counterpart down the Nile. The dramatic ouster of President Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood by the Egyptian military […]
The National Archive of South Sudan
Jok Madut Jok, former Undersecretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport of the Government of South Sudan, discusses the National Archive of South Sudan with Douglas H. Johnson, former Deputy Archivist and leading historian of the country.
A new history for a new nation
This analysis by Rift Valley Institute Fellow and renowned South Sudan historian Douglas Johnson weighs up the implications of South Sudan’s independence on the new nation’s history, historiography and sense of identity. The text is taken from a keynote lecture Johnson gave to the 9th International South Sudan and Sudan Studies Conference, held in Bonn, […]