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Rapid change and standstill: Peacemaking, Covid-19 and rumours in South Sudan

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Information and rumours have a powerful effect on people’s lives. They shape how people experience their environments and view their position in life, and give meaning to the forces that seem to determine this position. Information is often assumed to be a major driver of decision-making, regardless of whether the information is rumour or verified fact. And yet, how information affects people’s lives is often not well examined or established. What is even less explored…

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“This is your disease”: Dynamics of local authority and NGO responses to Covid-19 in South Sudan

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This report explores the dynamics of South Sudanese NGO and local government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Sudan. It considers how these actors – as significant public authorities – responded to the pandemic, and how these responses shaped and were shaped by wider social and political dynamics. A significant theme throughout our findings relates to the trust and mistrust felt in relation to the Covid-19 response, and how the global pandemic took precedence…

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Will the Impact of the Pandemic on the Expected National Output Persist?

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This weekly review contributes to the debate on how the COVID-19 induced hysteresis effects could affect growth in South Sudan. It addresses two related questions: What channels would transmit the COVID-19 scarring effects to the output? What can public policy do to support recovery? The rest of the review proceeds as follows: Section 2 examines the literature on the hysteresis. Section 3 lays out the theoretical framework, relying on Keynesian economics to shed light on…

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Africa’s Peace and Security: The Pressures of COVID-19

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In this article, Crisis Group’s Interim Vice President and Africa Program Director Comfort Ero analyses the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on Africa to date and examines the biggest challenges facing the continent in its aftermath. The analysis includes a section on South Sudan and details how the pandemic has impacted the implementation of the peace deal.   Download

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Rumours, Conflict Sensitivity, and COVID-19 in South Sudan

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Christopher Tuckwood and John Green Otunga reflect on how rumours and misinformation about the coronavirus has impacted on the COVID-19 response in South Sudan. Christopher Tuckwood is the Executive Director of the Sentinel Project, while John Green Otunga is the East Africa Programs Manager overseeing the implementation of the Sentinel Project’s UnaHakika (Kenya), Hagiga Wahid (South Sudan and Uganda), Kijiji Cha Amani (DRC), and Runtu Waa Nabad (Somalia) initiatives.    Introduction People all around the…

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The challenges of confronting COVID-19 amidst fragile peace in South Sudan

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Just a few months ago, many South Sudanese were breathing a sigh of relief, believing that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic had largely passed them by. Today, a virulent second wave is sweeping through the country causing huge harm to people’s health and wellbeing, damaging the already dire economy, and further interrupting the stagnating peace process. The number of cases is headed towards the 10,000 mark and there have been more than 100 deaths,…

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Pandemic Pauses: Understanding Ceasefires in a Time of Covid-19

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Key Findings Since March 2020, conflict parties have declared 25 ceasefires, across 17 countries. Ceasefires have been declared by some conflict parties in Afghanistan, Angola, Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Libya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Syria, South Sudan, Sudan, Thailand, Ukraine and Yemen. After an initial period of ceasefires declared following the United Nations Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire in March 2020, conflict and peace processes are increasingly returning to ‘normal’, as…

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The Peace Dimension of the COVID-19 Pandemic

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This essay argues that challenges to peace are one of the important long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It presents how violent conflict has been worsened by illegal armed actors using the pandemic to increase their strength, peace processes stalling or backsliding, and political strongmen exploiting the pandemic to consolidate power. In areas where these things are occurring, Catholic actors are responding with peacebuilding approaches. And the Catholic Church is particularly well-positioned to address these…

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COVID-19 and the Political Transition in South Sudan

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Publication Summary The implementation of the R-ARCSS is stalled, as the parties have had difficulty gathering sufficient momentum to push the Agreement forward. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has had serious negative impacts on the ability of the parties to implement the Agreement. The crush of oil prices in the global market, South Sudan’s lack of credit worthiness internationally, US Treasury’s warnings, corruption, and South Sudan’s weak fiscal and monetary policies, all make it…

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Deepening Africa’s Continental Trade & Economic Relations amid COVID-19

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“The effect of COVID-19 has not been limited to Africa alone. The pandemic first emerged in China, the epicentre, from where it spread to Europe, and then to North and South America. If these regions of the world that have been heavily infected and affected by COVID-19, are able to implement measures to bounce back then we in Africa must do the same by learning from their experience and by devising our own home-grown solutions.”…

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