The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed on 12 September 2018, not only allows for a new government and security arrangements, it also provides for two new commissions to decide the number of internal states and their boundaries. In the following Q and A, RVI fellows Douglas Johnson (DJ) and Aly Verjee (AV), joined by Matthew Pritchard (MP), US Institute of Peace researcher, discuss the history of boundary-making in…
Entries by Douglas Hamilton Johnson
The ‘If You are Safe, I am Safe’ strategy for South Sudan proposes to turn the desire for safety from a competitive conflict-causing endeavour to a co-operative peace-building endeavour. Aimed initially at promoting peace between communities, it envisages an active role for both local administration and central government. To do so there must be an understanding of the factors driving conflict, as well as those factors supporting reconciliation.
Africa’s newest nation has a long history. Often considered remote and isolated from the rest of Africa, and usually associated with the violence of slavery and civil war, South Sudan has been an arena for a complex mixing of peoples, languages, and beliefs. The nation’s diversity is both its strength and a challenge as its people attempt to overcome the legacy of decades of war to build a new economic, political, and national future. Most…
Expanded third edition of this key text on the complex underlying conditions of the civil war from the 1960s to the present day, including a new chapter on the current wars in Sudan’s new south and South Sudan. Sudan’s post-independence history has been dominated by political and civil strife. Most commentators have attributed the country’s recurring civil war either to an age-old racial divide between Arabs and Africans, or to recent colonially constructed inequalities. This…
This briefing seeks to explain the root causes of the ongoing crisis, focusing on divisions within the governing party and issues of military integration. Download
The research paper describes attitudes towards federalism and the ways it was presented from before Sudan’s independence in 1956, up to South Sudan’s independence today. Download
This commentary outlines a number of political development that have fuelled the armed conflict since December 2013. Download
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…
This article provides (historical) information on the contested border-town Panthou/Heglig. Download
This report explores the root causes of conflict in the cross border zone of Abyei and calls for Sudan and South Sudan as well as the international community to expend more effort in creating mechanisms for guaranteeing and implementing grazing rights.