South Sudan has not escaped the world’s attention even after the signing of the infamous Revitalized Peace Agreement in September 2018 that, for the 12th time, brought the two antagonists –Kiir and Dr. Machar, to the negotiation table since the conflict began in 2013. Even with the aura of a shaky peace, the main question is whether the new Agreement will stand the test of time, going on the history of the failed implementation of…

What’s new? In February 2020, South Sudan’s two main belligerents began forming a unity government pursuant to a peace deal inked a year and a half earlier. But the pact is fragile, smaller conflicts are still ablaze and the threat of return to full-blown civil war remains. Why does it matter? Forthcoming elections could test the peace deal severely. Looking further ahead, conflict will continue to plague South Sudan until its leaders forge a political system that…

This article uses Arend Lijphart’s notion of ‘power-sharing consociationalism’ to understand the mutually reinforcing conflict system and the barriers to resolving such conflicts in South Sudan. ‘Consociationalism’ has been affirmed as an ideal approach for resolving conflicts in ethnically divided societies, but in South Sudan, the formal institutions of power sharing have not delivered sustainable peace. Analysis in this article reveals that the implementation of the various ‘peace agreements’ and ‘deals’ deviated from classical ‘consociationalism’….

Caroline Hartzell and Matthew Hoddie’s theoretical model of power-sharing’s four dimensions—political, territorial, military, and economic—is used here to analyze successive peace processes in South Sudan. This multifaceted power-sharing strategy was utilized within both the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), designed to resolve Sudan’s intractable North- South conflict, as well as the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Crisis in South Sudan (ARCISS) that addressed a continuation of intra-South violence. This study investigates the breakdown…

Reflections from former senior political advisor to the IGAD mediation for South Sudan Aly Verjee on the peace agreement signed in 2015 and its implementation. Download

This weekly review highlights and analyses the contentious issues in the partially signed peace agreement (2015) and suggests a number of options.

This article explains political events in South Sudan since 2011 through the lens of a political marketplace. Link to publication

This report (2006) reviews the first six months of the National Unity Government that resulted from the CPA. It concludes the National Unity government has not yet provided the anticipated power sharing mechanisms and reform of legislation. Visit here.

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