Peace In Sudan Research Articles

The Politicization of the Education System: Implications for Peace in Sudan

The Politicization of the Education System: Implications for Peace in Sudan

Ruth Iyob and Gilbert Khadiagala. Sudan: The Elusive Quest for Peace. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2006. 224 pp. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $15.95. Paper.

Ruth Iyob and Gilbert Khadiagala. Sudan: The Elusive Quest for Peace. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner, 2006. 224 pp. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $15.95. Paper. Throughout Sudan's conflicts, the battle for peace has been as intense as the military confrontations themselves. Gathering Sudanese around the table, agreeing on an agenda, and persuading multiple factions to adopt a unified negotiating platform have all posed extreme difficulties to the mediators, and have surely added to the protraction of the Sudan's civ- il conflicts. There is a long tradition within the academy of using similar modes of analysis to discuss both war-making and peace-making, a tradition embraced by Ruth Iyob and Gilbert Khadiagala in Sudan: The Elusive Quest for Peace. This is a timely, if disappointing, book. Timely because it was written during the negotiations over a settlement ending Sudan's north-south conflict and during the escalation of another conflict in Darfur. This timing allowed the authors to explore the relations between the promise of peace in southern Sudan and the growing conflict in Darfur. To this effect, the authors accomplished their stated goal of addressing the weight of history on the present (13). With its burdensome legacy of colonial history, Sudan's history of religious encounters adds to its complex issue of national identity. Its long history of enslavement of Southerners by Northerners and a half century of brutal military confrontation only underscore the racial divides and the protracted conflicts that have accompanied the divide. Therefore any approach to peace is delicate, as historically contingent and politically contested. As this book shows, among the most important diplomatic responses to conflict in the Sudan were those guided by the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a coalition of governments attempting to broker a peace deal from 1995. Separate initiatives include those by Nigeria, Norway, the U.S., Libya, and Egypt. However, as this book shows, a number of IGAD nations had diplomatic problems among themselves; these simply extended a state of no war/no peace that ultimately ended with the signing of a tenuous north-south peace deal in 2005. This book provides the necessary context for anyone wishing to understand why Sudan's conflicts have dragged on for so long. What it does not show, however, is how the Sudanese people variously regarded the possibility of a long-term solution, the difficulties mediators encountered in approaching the Sudanese, and what the Sudanese found problematic about how various foreign mediators behaved. A deeper treatment of these matters, including the perspectives of multiple groups of Sudanese, would have significantly strengthened the book's analysis. Instead, the authors strive to maintain an image of neutrality in explaining the viewpoints of parties to the north-south conflict, sometimes at the expense of the facts. The problem with attempting neutrality on an issue as divisive as Sudan's conflict is that one ends up saying nothing concrete. Chronic conflict requires levels of analysis different from narrowly based mediating initiatives. …

The Impact of External Debts on Economic Growth: An Empirical Assessment of the Sudan: 1978-2001

This paper investigates, from an empirical point of view, the impact of Sudan's external indebtedness on economic growth over the period (1978-2001). In addition to that, the growth rate of real export earnings is included in the empirical model to capture the impact of export promotion strategy in inducing economic growth, while inflation rate is incorporated as a macroeconomic policy variable. The results of the study reveal the existence of debt overhang problem in Sudan, i.e. external debts exceed the country's repayment ability. The study concluded that external debt and inflation deter economic growth, while export earnings have positive impacts. Thus, the findings of this study support the need of Sudan to be considered for comprehensive debt relief measures. The study recommends the adoption of export- led growth strategy besides improving infrastructure. Furthermore, encouraging domestic saving and realizing peace in a united Sudan will help restore debt sustainability.

Winning the war, but losing the peace? The dilemma of SPLM/A civil administration and the tasks ahead

The debate over peace in Sudan has centred on the ongoing talks in Naivasha, Kenya. This paper argues, however, that sustainable peace is not simply a function of the implementation of an agreement between the SPLA and Khartoum, but that other fracture lines will run through post-conflict Sudan. Here we draw attention to the rupture between the Dinka, dominant within the SPLA, and the Equatorian peoples of the far south, hundreds of thousands of whom were driven from their homes or faced with economic and political oppression under SPLA occupation. As these refugees return, it will be through local government structures that Equatorians will or will not be integrated into the SPLA political project for Southern Sudan. Thus, local government figures prominently in the possibility for sustainable peace. We describe the origins and structure of local government in Southern Sudan, situating it in the history of political tension between Dinka and Equatorians. We then describe the challenge of equitably distributing land and foreign aid to returnees in the context of ethnic politics and a massive NGO presence.

PEACE IN SUDAN

representatives of the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed the final piece of a framework agreement on a settlement to a civil conflict that had cost the country more than 2 million lives since it began in 1983, there was a distinct wariness in the public response. To some extent this was because this outcome had been so long in coming, and so often delayed, that there were fewer illusions about the work still to be done in filling in the framework’s details. At best there would be a pre-interim period of six months, to be followed by an interim period of six years before the essence of the Accord was put to the test, and southerners allowed to choose between continued inclusion in a federal Sudan or secession as an independent state. There was another reason, too. It was beginning to dawn on most observers that the Naivasha achievement, however hard-won, had ignored several pertinent issues which remained unresolved and either actually or potentially deadly to the Sudanese people. The most prominent reminder of this could be summed up in the name of a region of the country: Darfur. Two years ago there were few people not intimately concerned with Sudanese affairs who could have pointed out France-sized Darfur on the map. That is no longer the case, now that media attention has been focussed on events there, encapsulated in the description “the greatest humanitarian crisis in the world today.” Other terms have also been used to awaken the interest and anger of a susceptible public, sometimes in the hope that this might provoke intervention from national governments or international bodies. Such words as “scorched earth”, “genocide” and its modern euphemism “ethnic cleansing” were commonly invoked, often to paradoxical effect as the diplomatic community deflected its energies into debates about whether the particular instances of mass murder, rape and arson in Darfur were accurately, or even legally, defined by such expressions. Not surprisingly, the resulting arguments generated rather more heat than light, and did little to succour the victims of the atrocities they reflected. The latest, and worst, “Darfurian Troubles” began in February 2003, when the Darfur Liberation Front, which soon renamed itself the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), launched a series of attacks against government positions, announcing that it was fighting to end the region’s marginalisation and neglect by the authorities in Khartoum. In so doing the SLA claimed to be following the example of other regional insurrections, most notably that of the SPLN/A, whose efforts over the past twenty years finally had attracted sufficient international attention and support to induce the Sudanese government to the negotiating table in Kenya, where a peace deal was still being crafted, section by section. The SLA was concerned that the international community PEACE IN SUDAN Who will pay the price of principle?

Addis Ababa Agreement: was it destined to fail and are there lessons for the Current Sudan Peace Process?

Addis Ababa Agreement: was it destined to fail and are there lessons for the Current Sudan Peace Process?

War and peace in Sudan: a tale of two countries

War and peace in Sudan: a tale of two countries

Sudan Peace Agreement: Agreement on Security Arrangements During the Interim Period

Sudan Peace Agreement: Agreement on Security Arrangements During the Interim Period

Sudan Peace Agreement: Agreement on Wealth Sharing During the Pre-Interim and Interim Period

Sudan Peace Agreement: Agreement on Wealth Sharing During the Pre-Interim and Interim Period

Enactment of the Sudan Peace Act

Enactment of the Sudan Peace Act

Dracunculiasis eradication: and now, Sudan.

This paper summarizes the status of the global dracunculiasis eradication campaign as of early 2002. Of the 20 countries that were endemic when the campaign began, seven have already interrupted transmission, four countries reported less than 100 cases each, and only five countries reported more than 1,000 cases each in 2001. Only 14,000 cases remained outside Sudan in 2001. Sudan reported 78% of all cases of dracunculiasis in 2001, and virtually all of Sudan's cases were in the southern states, where the long-standing civil war limits accessibility to endemic areas. A political settlement of the war is now urgently needed, since it will be impossible to complete the eradication of dracunculiasis without peace in Sudan.

The Impasse in the Igad Peace Process for Sudan: The Limits of Regional Peacemaking?

This article examines the progress (or rather, lack of it) of the initiative launched in 1993 by the Intergovernmental Authority for Drought and Development (IGADD) to achieve peace in Sudan. The initiative is seen as a model for regional co?operation in Africa and has received a high level of international support. However, it has yet to achieve success in spite of running as a high?profile mediation effort for more than seven years. The article offers a brief summary of the history of the process and tries to examine the obstacles and problems that have delayed its success. It also looks at some of the implications for regional peace?making in Africa, and concludes by offering some recommendations for breaking the deadlock. This is the only up?to?date and comprehensive account of the process known to the author, and is based on intimate familiarity with it. The analysis aims to place the peace process in the regional context, in contrast to other treatments which concentrate on internal Sudanese politics.

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955-1972

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955-1972

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955–72

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955–72

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955–1972

War and Peace in the Sudan 1955–1972

The need for a good enough territorial and economic governance in south Sudan

Peace and conflict dynamics in South Sudan are intertwined with political governance, institutional capacities, and leadership. Nevertheless, in the specific South Sudanese intractable civil wars since signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, territorial and economic governance are also certainly strictly connected to any possible prospect of sustainable peace for the country. As such, after carefully defining these concepts, this article emphasizes that territorial governance in South Sudan relates to boundaries definition and to the division of the national territory in states with a certain degree of autonomy. The issues and divergences engendered by territorial governance are intertwined with economic governance concerns. The uneven distribution of natural resources (especially oil) produces wealth and power redistribution concerns that are at the core of contentious relations between social and ethnic groups. These circles of tensions rapidly degenerate into conflict in a context of widespread poverty, inequality, and consequent social vulnerability. The article defines and illustrates a “good enough” territorial and economic governance framework for the South Sudanese case study.Keywords: South Sudan; Governance; Resources; Territory; Political System.