Entries by Rift Valley Institute

Key points • Since Salva Kiir appointed Hussein Abdel Abgi as one of his five vice-presidents he has strengthened his control over the borderland region between South Sudan and Sudan, now occupying political space previously filled by Paul Malong (former SPLA Chief of Staff). • Abdel Bagi has deepened his control of the re-formed Northern Bahr el-Ghazal by successfully negotiating the appointment of Tong Aken Ngor (former governor of Aweil state), who operates under his…

Breaking Out of the Borderlands is the second report by Dr Nicki Kindersley and Joseph Diing Majok on South Sudan’s changing borderland economy. The first report in the series—Monetized Livelihoods and militarized Labour in South Sudan’s Borderlands—described the protracted state of social and economic crisis that has gripped the borderland region of Northern Bahr el-Ghazal. Breaking Out of the Borderlands takes the phenomena described in the authors’ earlier work—the monetization of land, life and work…

In April 2016, seventeen chiefs from different parts of South Sudan gathered in Kuron Holy Trinity Peace Village, in Eastern Equatoria, to discuss the role of customary authority in governance—past and present—and their own contribution to peacemaking and a future political transition. The Chiefs’ meeting at Kuron was the first time that traditional leaders from areas on opposing sides of the conflict had met in South Sudan since 2013. This report draws on a transcript…

Records the Rift Valley Institute Juba Lecture Series on the role of civil society in South Sudan, held in June 2016.

Series of RVI lectures addressing lessons of South Sudan’s historic peace agreements. Critical questions raised were why negotiations succeed or fail, role of civil society, implications of the peace agreements for current situation and when opportunities for peace present themselves.

This meeting report is the record of an event on South Sudan: Beyond the ceasefire held on 27 February 2015 by the Rift Valley Institute Nairobi Forum. It refers to different key conflict dynamics such as power struggles, lack of accountability and patronage.  

In South Sudan delays in the making of the national constitution have led to public concern. My Mother Will Not Come to Juba: South Sudanese debate the constitution is the record of three evenings of public lectures at the University of Juba.

This collection of essays – of the Rift Valley Institute Sudan and South Sudan Course – provides a critical guide to current knowledge on key aspects of South Sudan and Sudan, written from a range of disciplinary points of view.

A guide to Sudan’s electoral system – one of the most complex in the world – and its effects on the distribution of power. The report analyses government documents to reveal errors and ambiguities in the demarcation of electoral districts, and warns of the challenge these pose to the conduct of elections in April 2010.