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(Nairobi) – South Sudanese armed forces and armed opposition groups continue to recruit child soldiers and force them into the conflict, despite numerous commitments to stop, Human Rights Watch said today. The United Nations, the African Union (AU), the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and their member states should immediately impose and enforce an arms embargo on South Sudan and targeted sanctions against individuals responsible, including President Salva Kiir, rebel leader Riek Machar and all other commanding…

This briefing  critically reflects on the ongoing peacebuilding efforts in South Sudan and suggests to adequately considering the complexity of the conflict dynamics and to taking local peace building actors into account. Download  

The USAID Promoting Resilience through Ongoing Participatory Engagement and Learning (PROPEL) program was designed to foster social cohesion and resilience in targeted communities in Jonglei, Lakes, and Eastern and Central Equatoria states in South Sudan through a Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach. PROPEL provided material improvements in the lives of community members and at the same time strengthened the communities’ capacity to drive their own development through harnessing their own resources, leveraging other donor-funded programs, and…

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 May 2017, Belgium started to fund the ACROPOLIS G4D research group, whose final objective is to publish, by October 2018, a green paper including principles, indicators and major steps to be taken towards building a Comprehensive Approach for Belgium Development Cooperation. As part of the research process, it was decided that two country case studies were to be conducted, one in Uganda on the refugee crisis responsefocusing on the humanitarian – development nexus, and…

Spoilers on the battlefield and in the negotiations process have completely undermined the search for peace in South Sudan. After numerous threats from the African Union and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the lack of any meaningful and escalating consequences for significant cease-fire violations and obstruction has emboldened spoilers on all sides and led to a spiraling of the conflict. The recently signed Cessation of Hostilities (CoH) agreement offers no respite, as it was…

South Sudan’s Initial transitional justice planning processes sought to engage communities on roles and viabilities of local justice in supporting transitional justice initiatives and mechanisms prescribed in the August 2015 Agreement. Nonetheless, the planning processes hit a snag, when the conflict reignited in July 2016. The working paper pursues the discussion about the role that local and indigenous reconciliation and justice processes can play in current transitional justice discourses and contends that existing practices and…

Humanitarian aid in settings of conflict has always been fraught with challenges. In the absence of political engagement, however, manipulation by state authorities, however, have the potential to pervert aid intervention to inflict harm. South Sudan exemplifies how states may abuse the humanitarian response to retreat from public responsibility, divert funds to further violence and conflict and dictate the distribution of aid. Recent trends toward nationalist policies in the West that favor disengagement and limited…

This report argues that a systemwide donor-driven transition to renewable energy—and specifically solar power—to support humanitarian programming is a viable way forward both now and over the longer term. Although such a transition alone will not end the conflict, it offers donors a more strategic alternative to the current practice. In the near term, a pivot to renewable energy will offer significant cost savings in a nation where electricity generation is one of the highest…

Land reform has been depicted by some as an effective element of counterinsurgency strategy in nations experiencing peasant-based civil conflict. While some studies have argued that land reform reduces civilian support for insurgency, other research has demonstrated that these reforms are often undermined by brutal state repression. The study of land reform has also been driven largely by qualitative case study research, which has limited what we know about the cross-national efficacy of these reforms….

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