This paper focuses on the potential for a regionalization of the conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), including external involvement by Sudan’s neighbours and cross-border spill-over. KEY POINTS There has been limited regional engagement in Sudan’s conflict and there are currently strong disincentives for involvement. For now, most regional states are hedging their bets and pushing for greater regional engagement in mediation efforts and an eventual peace negotiation….
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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.
This article investigates contestations over the roles and legitimacy of gangs within the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Protection of Civilians (PoC) site in Bentiu, South Sudan. Drawing on qualitative interviews, it argues that ‘gangs’ represented the medium through which everyday struggles and processes of social contestations were negotiated between youth, elders, and protection actors. Prevailing narratives of gangs as violent criminal entities structured conflict with elders and protection actors, but to their…
This report focuses on the protection needs and risks faced by returnees and host communities in South Sudan. The needs of the 7,457 Sudanese refugees (and almost 4000 others nonSudanese or South Sudanese nationality) who have so far arrived in South Sudan remain critical. Though many of the needs of and risks faced by these populations are similar, it is critical to also consider the specific challenges and vulnerabilities experienced by South Sudanese nationals (both…
KEY MESSAGES • Nearly all households who were interviewed in South Sudan were South Sudanese nationals who reported having fled active conflict in urban areas in Khartoum State. • Findings indicate households endured dangerous journeys to reach the border, with most households reporting having faced difficulties, including racism and discrimination, transportation issues, and difficulties due to a lack of documentation. Some households recounted having been subjected to violence. • Households overwhelmingly reported being in urgent…
Activists and scholars are seeking to end famine by promoting international legal accountability for starvation. This article deepens our understanding of the relationship between the politics of famine and law by observing the ongoing prevalence and power of legal norms and institutions during times of famine. It reveals the widespread use of hunger courts in famine-prone South Sudan and their role in legally enforcing social networks that provide for the most vulnerable. Based on analysis…
This Working Paper explores the interaction between social protection and conflict in the Horn of Africa. Conflict and political instability are habitual risks identified in the Horn of Africa, where social protection is a well-established field of intervention. By drawing from three country case studies, the paper provides recommendations for development partners on how to use their resources and leverage to strengthen conflict sensitivity of social protection at both strategic and operational level. Read more…
This article explores the everyday politics of protecting women from war and atrocities, based on ethnographic work within the United Nations Protection of Civilians sites, South Sudan. It examines the heterogenous ways that peacekeepers and displaced people conceptualised and enacted women’s rights and protection inside the sites. Protection and gender were variously interpreted, resisted, and transformed. But sexual and gender-based violence remained rife in these makeshift ‘safe havens’. These experiences demonstrate that international peacebuilders cannot…
This paper presents five lessons on community engagement in the context of the Humanitarian- Development-Peace (HDP) Nexus in South Sudan. More coordinated and collaborative approaches to community engagement have potential to address weaknesses in current approaches that prioritise the short-term information needs of the aid system at the expense of community priorities. The lessons focus on: (1) designing community engagement processes that respond to community priorities, capacities, and preferences, (2) ensuring less fragmented approaches to…
The humanitarian, development, and peace (HDP) nexus as an attempt to enable a more coherent and efficient collective response to dynamic and interconnected crises has received increasing prominence in South Sudan. While there are examples of how an HDP nexus can contribute to more effective aid in conflict-affected contexts, its application also carries conflict sensitivity risks. This analysis piece looks at what a conflict-sensitive HDP nexus might mean in the context of South Sudan. This…
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