The African Union (AU) and Regional Economic Communities (REC) have become pivotal peacemakers in the two decades since they began the construction of a joint African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) with the objective to provide “African solutions to African problems.” The African organisations have developed normative policy frameworks and organisational structures for mediation and preventive diplomacy. The peacemaking institutions, which were developed with the assistance of international development partners, reflect the long-standing peacemaking experience,…
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CSRF Research Repository
The CSRF Research Repository aims to support greater contextual knowledge for policy makers, programme managers, and implementers by providing a searchable repository of research, analysis, and resources, and providing periodic updates on new research and analysis.
Conflicts in Africa are increasingly becoming violent and endemic. Many of these conflicts are related to crises of identities, struggles for resources and power contestations. A few of these conflicts escalate to self-determination, separatist movements, and secession. These conflicts mostly transcend national borders and trigger the alteration and redesigning of national borders, which itself becomes a source of continued violent conflicts across borders. For instance, the attainment of independence by South-Sudan in 2013 has raised…
Do states circumvent embargoes by supplying weapons across borders to sanctioned countries? We report evidence that arms imports systematically increase in the neighborhood of conflict states under an embargo. Using several alternative research-design specifications, we contend that this pattern is consistent with arms exporters shifting the arms trade to neighbors of conflict states under sanctions, where it is easier to move arms clandestinely across the border. Despite the lack of direct evidence of clandestine cross-border…
Executive summaryOn 3 October 2020, Sudan’s Transitional Government and representatives of several armed groups signed the ‘Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan’ (hereinafter ‘Juba Agreement’). This Summary and Analysis paper discusses the Agreement’smain elements, with a particular focus on the main ways in which it impacts the current and future system of government. The main points that are made in this paper can be summarized as follows: 1. The Juba Agreement amends the 2019 Constitutional…
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…
On the 4 September 2020, the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in South Sudan announced in a press conference that UNMISS had begun to ‘progressively withdraw its troops and police from the Bor and Wau PoCs’, and to redesignate the sites ‘no longer PoC sites but camps for internally displaced people (IDP) under the jurisdiction of the government’ (UNMISS 4 September 2020). Later on in September UNMISS also removed its troops and police…
Operational context At the end of June 2020, Ethiopia hosted 342,765 South Sudanese refugees of whom 319,130 were sheltered in seven camps in the Gambella Regional State. This includes 83,616 refugees in Nguenyyiel camp, 64,898 refugees in Tierkidi camp, 58,935 in Jewi camp, 45,399 refugees in Kule camp, 43,433 and 9,313 refugees in Pugnido1 and 2 camps and 11,806 refugees in Okugo Camp. A further 1,730 refugees are accommodated with the host community in Akula….
This report focuses on the IGAD-led mediation process from December 2013 to August 2015 to address the conflict in South Sudan. As per a project initiated, led and owned by IGAD, it identifies lessons from the South Sudan peace talks with the aim to inform future IGAD mediation efforts. These lessons are based on interviews conducted by a team of researchers with mediators, advisers, parties and supporters as well as an analysis of internal IGAD…
Over the last 50 years, the various conflicts afflicting South Sudan have caused massive displacements of people. Latest estimates suggest there are more than 1.5 million internally displaced people (IDPs) within the country’s borders, with another 2.2 million refugees displaced outside the country, as a result of the most recent conflicts. Policymakers generally see these populations as highly vulnerable—being less able to provide for themselves and their families away from their original homes—and at risk…
Drawing on consultations with diplomats and experts from more than 20 governments and international institutions, this report surveys the changing geopolitical context astride the Red Sea, outlines the rationale for a Red Sea multilateral framework, and offers design elements for architects to consider. It unpacks the diplomatic initiatives undertaken to date—by the EU/Germany, African Union/IGAD, and Saudi Arabia/Egypt—and finally, it offers perspectives from the Red Sea’s littoral countries, from “neighboring states,” and from global actors—including Europe, the…
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