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The paper examines the oil sector in South Sudan since 2005, when the historic Comprehensive Peace Agreement was reached between the Government of the former Sudan and the then rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army. It argues that, as in many low-income countries, the benefits from the oil sector have been reaped mainly by a small number of people who control the government or have links to powerful persons in the government. The interests of ordinary…

Examining the experiences of the South since Sudan’s independence, this article analyses why the choice of ‘unity’ became an unrealistic option for South Sudanese. Stressing that self-determination for the South was the only way to resolve Sudan’s long-standing national crisis, this article points out, at the same time, that it left unresolved the issue of self-determination for the peoples of the northern Sudan who joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army and brought new problems, particularly…

This paper looks at effects of climate change on vulnerable countries in Africa. The authors note that countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guinea, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and South Sudan are particularly vulnerable to climate change because they are less resilient and have weak governance systems. It also underscores how climate change is increasingly becoming a security threat to most countries, which often prompts deployment of militaries to provide humanitarian assistance….

Inspired by the new paradigm of social studies and the theory of legal pluralism, this article presents the findings of a study of participation rights as they apply to child soldiers. Using the child-focused DDR initiatives currently being implemented in South Sudan as a main case study, the author combines insights derived from an examination of local norms and universal legal standards with field research to elucidate the legal, cultural, moral and practical dilemmas of…

Based on fieldwork conducted among young South Sudanese refugees in Egypt and Uganda and returnees in South Sudan, this essay examines the various identities and cultural orientations imported and reconstructed by returnee youth now living in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, after years of exile. Download

Drawing on interviews conducted during two periods of fieldwork in Juba, this article traces debates over land between a set of local actors whose interests collided in the Interim Period. The article focuses on land tenure in Juba. Link to publication

Abyei was one of the most contested areas of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of January 2005. Drawing on direct experience, the article examines the agreement and the experience of trying to support its implementation. It analyses the relationship between this and the overall problems of the CPA, and of peacekeeping in the newly independent South Sudan. Drawing on relevant literature, it examines the wider issues for the negotiation of peace agreements; for UN mandates,…

Since Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, its border with Uganda has become a hub of activity. Contrasting developments on the Ugandan side of the border with those on the South Sudanese side, the paper draws on empirical fieldwork to argue that the CPA has created new centres of power in the margins of both states. However, in day-to-day dealings on either side of the border, South Sudanese military actors have become dominant. In…

Through a chronological analysis of the peace process between 2000 and 2005, this article demonstrates that the scope for compromise was limited and that a significantly ‘better’ deal was unlikely. The article’s ambition is to present a concise and empirically grounded analysis of the CPA peace process and to lay foundations for further investigation of a crucial, contested and complicated subject in Sudan’s recent history. Link to publication

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