The Road Back from Abyei
Abyei has proved to be the hardest part of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to implement, harder, even, than the determination of the rest of the North-South boundary, or the division of oil revenues. In this personal commentary Douglas Johnson argues that this is the result of a long-term aim of annexation by successive national […]
Sudan and South Sudan Course 2015
Civil wars, transitional justice and international mediation in Sudan and South Sudan, by Sharath Srinivasan The 2015 RVI Sudan and South Sudan Field Course takes stock eighteen months after a devastating civil war began in South Sudan and in the wake of controversial elections in Sudan and ongoing insurgencies. The course confronts the stark trade off […]
South Sudan: Beyond the ceasefire
After fifteen months of civil war in South Sudan, regional and international mediators continue to broker talks for a permanent ceasefire and power-sharing arrangement acceptable to both sides. But such a settlement will be just the beginning of a process towards lasting stability in a country where the potential for conflict is rooted in a […]
A New History for a New Nation
RVI Fellow Douglas Johnson discussed the implications of South Sudan’s independence for the new nation’s history, historiography, and sense of identity in his keynote lecture to the 9th International South Sudan and Sudan Studies Conference in Bonn in July 2012. Describing South Sudan as ‘a missing piece in the jigsaw of Africa’s past’, he offered […]
Disputed Votes, Deficient Observation
The war in South Kordofan, Sudan, that began in May 2011 followed a disputed election for the governorship of the state, an election endorsed by international and national election observers. This study argues that that there were significant deficiencies on the part of the observation missions. Irregularities were underplayed and critical lessons from Sudan’s past […]
Beats of the Antonov
On Tuesday 3 May 2016, the Rift Valley Forum screened a film, Beats of the Antonov, by Hajooj Kuka, followed by a discussion. Sudan has been in an almost constant state of civil war since it achieved independence in 1956 and divided into two sovereign states in 2011. On the border between South Sudan and Sudan, […]
Elections in Sudan
This report examines Sudan’s history of elections, and asks why they have failed to produce the kind of stable yet dynamic government in Sudan that the secret ballot is intended to encourage. Elections in Sudan analyses the varied forms of malpractice that have compromised previous elections and contributed to public scepticism about the value and transparency of […]
Race Against Time
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. Report also available in Arabic.
Reconciliation in the Sudans
In 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended two decades of civil war that claimed countless lives and displaced millions. Besides the international mediators, Sudanese churches were instrumental in preparing the ground for the peace agreement, just as they had been in the 1972 Addis Ababa Peace Agreement. On […]
سباق مع الزمن: العد التنازلي نحو الاستفتائين في جنوب السودان ومنطقة أبيي
إن تقرير سباق مع الزمن الذي ينشر أثناء فترة تسجيل الناخبين لإستفتاء جنوب السودان يحلّل المشاكل الاجرائيّة المستعصية والصعوبات الفنيّة والنزاعات التي تهدد عمليّة تقرير المصير في جنوب السودان وابيي. ويوفر التقرير خطوطاً زمنيّة وموجّهات لبهيئات الانتخابية ومقارنات مع استفتاءات اخرى ومصادر ومراجع شاملة وغيرها من الوثائق. ويخلص التقرير في هذا الطور النهائي إلى أن” […]