This review is based on the author’s presentation to the Roundtable convened by UNMISS in Juba on the 6-7 July 2021, to Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. The remarks and views reflected in the review are the author’s and not to be attributed to UNMISS or the Sudd Institute. Download
Entries by Francis Mading Deng
This chapter argues that preventing mass atrocities in Africa requires addressing the root causes of conflicts. It focuses on the experience of Sudan–South Sudan, which is, in many ways, a microcosm of Africa. The chapter argues that a crisis of identity lies at the heart of conflicts in the two Sudans, reflecting their failure to manage diversity constructively. As in all such conflicts, the root cause is not the mere existence of differences, but the…
In this paper Francis Mading Deng reflects on international cooperation in South Sudan. He writes: It is now widely recognized that there is an increasing call for regional and international action to end the current crisis in South Sudan. This is a crisis that has inflicted and continues to inflict on the people untold suffering, death, and destruction. Resisting regional and international involvement cannot be in the interest of the Government and people of South…
The civil war that has intermittently raged in the Sudan since independence in 1956 is, according to Francis Deng, a conflict of contrasting and seemingly incompatible identities in the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Identity is seen as a function of how people identify themselves and are identified in racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious terms. The identity question related to how such concepts determine or influence participation and distribution in the political,…
This briefing explores the roots of Sudan’s national identity crisis and addresses its stratifying implications. Download
This paper aims to explore the gap between the “objective” global concept of poverty and the subjective perception of wealth in Dinka communities. Link to Publication
Written by the son of the late Paramount Chief of the Ngok Dinka, this ethnography provides a rich, well-balanced view of Dinka life in the Sudan. Always in direct contact with a hostile environment, deprivations, and troubles, the Dinka now form part of modern Sudan but remain among the least touched by modernization. Their pride and ethnocentrism are important factors in their conservatism and resistance to change. A rare view of these “Lords of Men”…