Conflict In Sudan Research Articles

The Antinomies of Legitimacy: On the (Im)possibility of a Legitimate International Criminal Court

This paper critically analyzes the concept of legitimacy as it applies to international criminal law. Using the referral of the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (icc) – and the resultant disagreement between Sudan, the African Union, and the icc – as an entry point, it examines the discourse about the referral as a contest of legitimacy. After placing this specific example in the context of theories of legitimacy, it argues that there are no objective criteria for determining the legitimacy of an international criminal tribunal. Legitimacy as a concrete concept is best understood as a Kantian antinomy – an unanswerable question that borders on the metaphysical. Yet this indeterminacy can be turned to the advantage of the critical theorist, offering pragmatic, normative, and pluralist alternatives for the reconstitution of international criminal tribunals such as the icc.

IGAD’s Mediation in the Current South Sudan Conflict: Prospects and Challenges

ABSTRACTSince December 2013, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development has been mediating the current South Sudan conflict. The mediation effort is predicated under Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter under which regional organizations can undertake activities in the area of conflict mediation and resolution. In January 2014, the mediation process resulted in the signing of two landmark agreements on the cessation of hostilities and the political detainees. The paper argues that the authority’s mediation process is in danger of failing due to a number of reasons, including the authority’s structural problems and lack of leverage to enforce its will on the parties to the conflict. In the end, the mediation may have a chance of success if the organization can tap into its mediation experience gained during the Sudan and Somalia peace processes. Moreover, the authority’s mediation of the South Sudan conflict has a chance of succeeding because it has been recognized by the African Union and the United Nations among others as the only process to resolve the problem.

From combat to non-combat action

This paper examines the rationale and centrality of private military and security companies (PMSCs) in humanitarian assistance operations in Sudan, asking why PMSCs are involved in humanitarian assistance operations in Sudan and what the principles underlying their activities are. To answer this question, the paper draws attention to the link between humanitarian crises and PMSC interventions. Where there is no meaningful alternative intervention, undergirded by humanitarian concerns that are also profit driven, PMSCs come in to provide the needed services. The protracted and complicated internal armed conflicts in Sudan, which have lasted for over two decades, have produced as many as 4,8 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) – the single largest number in the world. The kind of humanitarian assistance operations provided by PMSCs in Sudan have become critical to the provision of much-needed services which were inadequately provided by governmental authorities at both unilateral and multilateral levels. This paper argues that the humanitarian crises in Sudan created a regime that permits humanitarian assistance operations by both state and non-state actors.

Spatiotemporal Network Analysis and Visualization

Spatiotemporal social network analysis shows relationships among people at a particular time and location. This paper presents an algorithm that mines text for person and location words and creates connections among words. It shows how this algorithm output, when chunked by time intervals, may be visualized by third-party social network analysis software in the form of standard network pin diagrams or geographic maps. Its data sample comes from newspaper articles concerning the 2006 Darfur crisis in Sudan. Given an immense data sample, it would be possible to use the algorithm to detect trends that would predict the next geographic center(s) of influence and types of actors (foreign dignitaries or domestic leaders, for example). This algorithm should be widely generalizable to many text domains as long as the external resources are modified accordingly.

The effects of household assets inequality and conflict on population health in Sudan

We explored the effects on health of both household asset inequality and political armed conflict in Sudan. Using the 2010 Sudan household survey, we evaluated the role of both household asset distribution (measured by the Gini coefficient) and armed conflict status at the state level. We measured associations with six health-related outcomes: life expectancy, infant mortality, height-for-age (stunting), adequacy of food consumption, teenage birth rates and vaccination coverage for young children. For each of six measures of health in Sudan, outcomes were significantly worse in the states with more unequal asset distribution, with correlation coefficients ranging between -0.56 (stunting) and -0.80 (life expectancy). Conflict status predicted worse outcomes. Wealth redistribution in the more unequal states, as well as a political resolution of conflict, may improve population health.

The ICC and the Security Council: How Much Support is There for Ending Impunity?

The Article explores the relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations Security Council in the context of the ICC Prosecutor's recent decision to suspend her investigation into crimes committed in Darfur. Given that the situation in Darfur was referred to the ICC by the Security Council, what does the suspension of the investigations say about the relationship between the court and the Council? Despite persistent Security Council paralysis, there is broad support for the ICC within the Council. In fact, but for the threat of a Russian or Chinese veto, it is very likely that the Security Council would already have acted to apply pressure to Sudan to encourage Sudanese cooperation with the court. Support for the ICC is also widespread within the General Assembly. Essentially, support for the court and for ending impunity is quite broad while opposition to the court is very narrow. This bodes well for the eventual success of the court, although the short to medium term is likely to be marked by continued paralysis.

Community Stabilization and Violence Reduction: Lessons from Darfur

Ravaged by years of conflict and environmental decline, Darfur’s economy has been unable to create sufficient opportunities for youth, creating a link between social instability and high concentration of youth without productive employment. In 2011, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) designed a community stabilization and violence reduction programme to bridge a critical gap between the increasing ‘youth bulge’ and the government's capacity to deliver youth empowerment and job creation solutions to youth in Darfur, leading to militarization of youth. The programme offers vocational skills training and temporary employment of youth through implementation of community-based labour intensive projects (CLIPs). Youth are targeted in particular, since they are an essential part of the solution to resolving the conflict in Darfur. Youth tend to be directly involved in hostilities and are seen to be most likely to return to the battlefield. At the same time, youth are often the community members most open to engaging in post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding activities. Since the conception of the programme in 2011, a total of 58 projects were implemented in 45 communities, and directly targeted over 9,000 youth. In a situation where the peace agreement is non-inclusive and the level of violence against unarmed civilians is high, CLIPs have played an important role in community stabilization and violence reduction in Darfur, building trust, contributing to a secure environment and helping build the foundation for longer term peace and development. As recognition of its contribution to peace and stability in Darfur, in October 2014, UNAMID’s CLIPs programme received the UN 21 Award for Outstanding Vision.

Unpacking the Tension Between the African Union and the International Criminal Court: the Way Forward

It has been asserted that the international criminal justice regime anchored on the complementarity of the international criminal court (ICC) could be undermined by distrust, much of which stems from Africa’s historical experience with the slave trade and colonialism. 1 This contention seems well-founded, as the ICC is widely perceived as selective and biased against Africa. The perception appears to be justified by the fact that, although the ICC has the potential to cover all states, whether they are party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court or not, it has only African cases before it, even after utilising all the means by which it may be seized of jurisdiction. As a result, Africans are portrayed as being exclusively responsible for all of humanity’s inhumanity. Relations between the ICC and the African Union (AU) deteriorated from cooperation to conflict following the indictment of President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir of Sudan for crimes against humanity and genocide. The basis for the tension seems to have been the involvement of the United Nations Security Council (hereafter ‘Security Council’) in the referral of the situation in Darfur, Sudan to the ICC and its subsequent refusal to defer the case, as requested by the AU. Nevertheless, the relationship is still salvageable and could be enhanced for

Anthropocentric Climate Change and Violent Conflict: Evidence Review and Policy Recommendations

Violent conflicts, freshwater related risks, mass migration, food and human insecurity, in vulnerable developing countries are among the key global threats posed by climate change, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2014 report. The admonitions concur with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP, 2007) and Ban Ki Moon (2007) assertions that the conflict in Darfur was as a result of resource scarcity and climate change. This essay reviews the evidence in academic literature, newspaper, articles, journals, blogs, books which links climate change and violent conflicts and then proceeds to use evidence from Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda to argue that current evidence linking climate change and violent conflict is counterfactual and filled with numerous disagreements. This signals the need for current policy debates to be informed by measured views of vulnerability to conflict, causes of specific conflicts and local responses to climate change rather than on simplistic, unsubstantiated gloomy assertions that prove no statistically significant link between climate change and violent conflict.

Gulf Cooperation Council, Qatar and Dispute Mediations: A Critical Investigation

This paper investigates the role played by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in mediating disputes since its creation in 1981 to 2011, the year of the outbreak of the ‘Arab Spring’. It analyzes the contributions of the GCC as a conflict mediator by crosschecking this sub-regional group’s institutional structure and policy approach, and presents two major findings. Firstly, the GCC was hardly designed as a conflict mediator, given that the Gulf Arab states created it as a vehicle to respond to intra-Gulf and external security threats and challenges. Secondly, in order to promote its foreign policy independence and boost its regional and global diplomatic profile to ensure its security and survival in the dangerous environment of the Gulf region, it is Qatar that has extensively attempted to mediate conflicts in Lebanon, Yemen and Sudan, with varying degrees of success, under the banners of the GCC and the Arab League. Finally, the paper presents a series of policy recommendations, based on critical insights from Qatari mediation experiences, to enable the GCC to be a proactive dispute mediator.

South Sudan Conflict in Numbers

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural SeriesVolume 51, Issue 12 p. 20403C-20403C National Security South Sudan Conflict in Numbers First published: 19 January 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825X.2015.06074.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume51, Issue12January 2015Pages 20403C-20403C RelatedInformation

The South Sudan Conflict: Continental and International Implications

The South Sudan Conflict: Continental and International Implications

The Role of the UN Security Council vis-à-vis the International Criminal Court – Resolution 1970 (2011) and its Challenges to International Criminal Justice

Abstract On February 26 2011, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1970 referring the situation concerning Libya to the International Criminal Court (ICC). Th is unprecedented support for and acknowledgment of the ICC did not come without a price: conditio sine qua non for Council members not party to the ICC was the inclusion of operative § 6 into the resolution, which exempts certain categories of nationals of non-parties from ICC jurisdiction. Th e same highly controversial exemption was included in the Security Council’s referral of the situation in Darfur to the ICC in 2005. Deviating from the Rome Statute’s jurisdiction regime such practice not just poses challenges to principles of international criminal justice but raises the question whether the Rome Statute is altered by the resolution containing the referral to the effect that the ICC is being bound to the exemptions contained in its exercise of jurisdiction. Addressing these issues, the present paper elaborates firstly on the jurisdictional exemption of § 6 and its effect on the ICC, followed by a discussion of resulting challenges to the principle of legality, the principle of universal jurisdiction for international crimes, the equality of individuals before the law and the principle of independence of the court.

The Contribution of Quality Religion Education to Development Education in Africa

The contribution of quality religion education to development education in Africa is of great value in such a way that those who gain access to it should be able to make a constructive connection between religion education and development education. The main motivating reason for this study is that there is a general perception from some global regions where religious affiliation has promoted religious intolerance which in turn has promoted conflict, instead of reducing it. In this light the researcher, herein, saw it necessary to promote an idea that quality religion education can help promote development education, thus religion education can be a powerful tool for development, in general. In an attempt to establish a relationship between quality religion education and development education, van Ufford and Schofeleers (1988:293) say that there is a close parallel between the social scientific study of religion and that of development. While religion contributes to development education, it has potential to do the opposite hence Brahm (2005) says that interfaith learning can really contribute positively to development education because the learning process can lead to religious tolerance which in turn contributes to peace-building. In addition to this comment, Smock (2006) connotes that religion education contributes to development education in that peace-making on the African continent has significantly contributed in the solving of conflicts in Sudan, Mozambique, and South Africa. According to Glaeser, Edward, and Sacerdote (2008) good religion education can lead to good development education, though the differences may vary from individual to individual, state education system to another, and faith organization to another, but the fact is there is some relationship that exists between religion education and development education. This paper considers religion education as an adult education programme regardless of it including children in its application. Leaders of religion education structures may have different objectives, but the point in focus, herein, is that regardless of the apparent focus, there is education that has a bearing on people’s characters and life styles which affects development status in Africa. With this in mind, the researcher, herein, saw it necessary to advance an idea that religion education structures, or sects, need to have, in themselves, quality assurance mechanisms so as to attend to the degree of quality in their expected outcomes. Religion education, regardless of the quality, has a great influence in the lives of the people. While there are many practicing sects of religion, there are some religious sects that specialize in learning by dominance of music and silence while others focus on learning which is backed by learning support materials. Observation has it that religious sects dominated by use of literature tend to influence religion attendees to engage in education programmes more than those who get dominated by other forms such as music and silence. Preliminary search for the literature for the study has indicated that there is no sufficient literature which is directly linked. Therefore, this study will use the tangential approach to literature review. This study is giving a notion that religion education, if backed by learning support materials like literature, contributes to development in Africa. This study is expected to add value to the following population groups: education development journals, researchers in universities, community development researchers, adult education scholars, religion education practitioners, development education practitioners, and student theologians. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n23p777

Explaining the (il)legality of Uganda's intervention in the current South Sudan conflict

During the night of 15 December 2013, fighting broke out between factions of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Juba, the capital of the Republic of South Sudan. The fighting pitted forces loyal to President Salva Kiir against those loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar. Five days later, Uganda sent troops into South Sudan, advancing a number of reasons for intervention, including that it had been invited by the legitimate government of South Sudan to ensure order; it needed to evacuate Ugandan citizens caught up in the fighting; it had been asked by the United Nations Secretary-General to intervene; and that the regional organisation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development had sanctioned the intervention. As the conflict escalated, Ugandan troops started fighting on the side of forces loyal to Kiir. The underlying reasons for the intervention were clearly economic, but those advanced were legal. This article discusses both sets of reasons and concludes that the economic reasons are more persuasive. Nevertheless, while some of the legal arguments (such as being invited by the legitimate government of South Sudan) can be asserted, others are clearly dubious. In addition, the participation of Ugandan troops in the fighting on the side of the Kiir government renders the intervention illegal.

The effects of household assets inequality and conflict on population health in Sudan

We explored the effects on health of both household asset inequality and political armed conflict in Sudan. Using the 2010 Sudan household survey, we evaluated the role of both household asset distribution (measured by the Gini coefficient) and armed conflict status at the state level. We measured associations with six health-related outcomes: life expectancy, infant mortality, height-for-age (stunting), adequacy of food consumption, teenage birth rates and vaccination coverage for young children. For each of six measures of health in Sudan, outcomes were significantly worse in the states with more unequal asset distribution, with correlation coefficients ranging between -0.56 (stunting) and -0.80 (life expectancy). Conflict status predicted worse outcomes. Wealth redistribution in the more unequal states, as well as a political resolution of conflict, may improve population health.

The effects of household assets inequality and conflict on population health in Sudan

We explored the effects on health of both household asset inequality and political armed conflict in Sudan. Using the 2010 Sudan household survey, we evaluated the role of both household asset distribution (measured by the Gini coefficient) and armed conflict status at the state level. We measured associations with six health-related outcomes: life expectancy, infant mortality, height-for-age (stunting), adequacy of food consumption, teenage birth rates and vaccination coverage for young children. For each of six measures of health in Sudan, outcomes were significantly worse in the states with more unequal asset distribution, with correlation coefficients ranging between -0.56 (stunting) and -0.80 (life expectancy). Conflict status predicted worse outcomes. Wealth redistribution in the more unequal states, as well as a political resolution of conflict, may improve population health.

The Role of the Netherlands in the European Framework for an International Response on Darfur during its Presidency in 2004–2005

In this article, we discuss the role of the Netherlands with respect to the Darfur crisis during 2003–2005. From the moment the crisis broke out, the Netherlands was active as a major donor and tried to facilitate political solutions. During the period January 2004–July 2005, it functioned as the (acting) presidency of the Council of the European Union and was therefore involved in creating a common EU position. We discuss how policy was made while observing internal (domestic) and external (international) influences. We conclude that the Netherlands was partially successful in establishing a more active EU position regarding Darfur. However, we also find evidence that, eventually, the EU has lagged behind the response of the UN Security Council, despite being a major donor to emergency relief and the African Union mission in Sudan.

Psychiatric disorders among a sample of internally displaced persons in South Darfur.

The violent armed conflict in Darfur has been ongoing for years getting the attention of human rights activists and mental health professionals. The aim of this study was to assess psychiatric disorders in a sample of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Darfur. A cross-sectional observational study, as a part of the 'Darfur Campaign' organized by Arab Federation of Psychiatrists, assessing psychiatric disorders in a sample of internally displaced women using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) (clinical version). Up to 25.7% of participants had lost a close family member or more in the violent clashes. Psychiatric diagnoses were found in 62.2% of the participants. The most frequently reported was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reaching 14.9%, followed by depression 13.5% (among which 2.7% with psychotic features), while comorbid PTSD and depression reached 8.1% of participants. Patients with psychiatric diagnoses had an older age (36.6 years) (p = .024). Suffering from a psychiatric disorder was found to be associated with losing a family member in the conflict (p = .015), being 35.6% in patients with psychiatric diagnoses compared to 10.3% in those without losing a family member in the conflict (odds ratio (OR) = .7, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.25-18.28). This study used a standardized tool for diagnosing psychiatric morbidity among refugees in Darfur to give as much as possible an actual description of the problems and psychiatric morbidity caused by human-made disasters. This study can help to lead to a more detailed and specific mental health service program much needed by this population.

The Relationship Between the ICC and the UN Security Council

THE POWER OF THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL TO REFER COUNTRY situations to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been hailed, particularly among international human rights activists, as a chance to expand the reach of international criminal justice by offering the opportunity to hold accountable perpetrators of atrocities who might otherwise be exempt from prosecution and punishment. The historic referral of the situation in Darfur in March 2003 was widely welcomed as an important step in the fight against impunity as was the Security Council's later, and more controversial, referral of Libya in February 2011. In principle the expansion of the reach of accountability is something to be welcomed, but it is important to recognize the costs of this expansion as well as the danger that they may outweigh the intended benefits. When the ICC was established in 1998, it was heralded as a significant step forward for international justice, a permanent court that would aid in the fight against impunity for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and eventually aggression, and that would expand the reach of international justice beyond the hybrid and ad hoc mechanisms that had been established in the preceding years. To date, 122 states have become parties to the Rome Statute, accepting the ICC's jurisdiction over humanity's worst crimes, albeit in a form that is complementary or secondary to the jurisdiction of national courts. The Rome Statute includes a number of provisions that are particularly celebrated in the human rights community, not least Article 13(b) that grants the Security Council the power to refer country situations to the court, thereby placing even nonsignatory states under the court's jurisdiction in cases where the Council, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, finds a threat to international peace and security. This, in a sense, simply confirms the powers previously exercised by the Council when it created the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, among others. But referrals to the ICC engage a whole new set of issues. Along with the referral power, the Security Council was also granted powers to defer an ICC investigation or prosecution for a renewable period of twelve months under Article 16. Unsurprisingly, this provision has been far more contentious among those seeking to advance the legal protection of human rights, and international criminal justice as a whole, with many viewing it as providing an unwelcome opportunity for political interference in a judicial body as well as reducing the scope for accountability. So far, the Security Council has referred only two cases to the ICC--those of Darfur in 2005 and Libya in 2011--and has not yet exercised its Article 16 deferral powers to stay an active investigation or prosecution. In the cases of both Sudan and Libya, the Council's decision to act in the face of evidence of significant and widespread human rights violations was, particularly in the West, largely applauded by those who have actively supported the development of human rights and international criminal tribunals. Both cases demonstrate the primary benefit of Council referrals, which is that they expand the reach of accountability to cases where the ICC would normally not have access--cases where the suspects are either not nationals of a country that has ratified the Rome Statute, or where the crimes under scrutiny were not committed on the territory of a ratifying party. Yet for all the good that Security Council referrals do in expanding accountability and combating impunity, there is a danger they could, and already do, undermine the wider aims of international criminal justice. Such referrals not only could erode the legal principles at the heart of this project, not least the fundamental tenets of the rule of law, but also on a more practical level could provoke a backlash against the ICC over the perceived use of international justice as a bargaining chip or tool to gain political powers. …