Introduction On December 14, 2016, South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, declared the National Dialogue (ND) process and appointed eminent personalities and civil society representatives to lead it. At the time, the second spell of the civil conflict was raging in parts of Upper Nile, Equatoria, and Bahr el Ghazal regions. Numerous attempts by the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to salvage the 2015 Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCSS) proved…
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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.
Summary This research paper reflects on the myriad ways in which militarised and criminalised forms of authority in South Sudan, specifically militias and gangs interpret norms around gender equality and the prevention of gender-based violence (GBV). It is founded on extended local fieldwork conducted throughout the first half of 2019 across four field locations, including: Wau Town in Western Bahr el Ghazal State; Yirol East in Lakes State; Ganyiel in Unity State; and the Juba…
Summary South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) was established in 2011, after the country gained independence. The 2011 Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, mandates the NSS to collect information, conduct analysis, and advise relevant authorities. But since its establishment, the NSS has gone much further than merely collecting information. Within months of its establishment, its agents were arresting and imprisoning journalists, government critics and others, and conducting physical and telephonic surveillance. Today,…
As the practice of the protection of civilians (POC) has evolved in peacekeeping missions, the UN has increasingly focused on “people-centered” approaches. As a result, community engagement has emerged as a core component of POC efforts. By engaging with communities, missions can build trust, gather information, and build a protective environment, ultimately improving their ability to protect civilians. This paper examines the positive implications and impact of this increased focus on community engagement, as well…
This review explores the magnitude of this year’s flood and its impacts in Bor Town. We used a boat to get us around the town surveying the extent of flood water and measuring its depth in the streets and in the residential neighborhoods. We also used the GPS to capture the geographical coordinates submerged under water, showing exactly the depth of flood in the town by locations. Download
Introduction Communal violence has attracted both research and policy attention in recent years. Global developments, such as climate change and its aggravating effects on farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, election violence in India and Kenya, or attempts by UN peacekeepers to protect civilians from attacks by communal militias in Mali and South Sudan have brought such violence to our attention and illustrate the death and destruction such conflicts can cause and the need to better address…
The R-ARCSS was designed as an all-encompassing package of measures that would help end the civil war in South Sudan. Yet, in reality it does not efficiently address some of the root causes of the conflict. More than addressing those in a manner that connects both bottom-up and top-down drivers of tension, it focuses on elements of a power-sharing agreement and paves the way for resource sharing arrangements. This brief examines how and why grievances…
Abstract Over the past two decades, the rangelands of Eastern Africa have experienced sweeping changes associated with growing human populations, shifting land use, expanding livestock marketing and trade, and greater investment by domestic and global capital. These trends have coincided with several large shocks that were turning points for how rangeland inhabitants make a living. As livelihoods in the region’s rangelands transform in seemingly paradoxical directions, away from customary pastoralist production systems, greater insight is…
The core argument of this paper is that it is possible to engage in meaningful peacebuilding and reconciliation activities in South Sudan, despite the many complexities and tensions. However, serious re-thinking is required to develop and design more strategic and context-sensitive approaches. Consideration of the tensions raised here, and devising methodologies to manage them that accurately reflect the complexities of the context and of action within it, will help. All actors, whatever their role, position…
This report describes the main findings and recommendations of research carried out for the Partners for Resilience (PfR) alliance on how the PfR programme is affected by – or may affect – conflict. Although PfR works in different conflict-affected countries and contexts, it does not address conflict or insecurity explicitly. This is potentially problematic for PfR’s effectiveness. It is therefore important to consider whether PfR could or should address conflict more explicitly. For this research,…
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