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The scale and complexity of the current crisis in South Sudan challenges description. The advocacy of journalists and non-governmental organisations – whilst generally based on good intentions – often relies on statistical descriptors, explanations of ‘inter-ethnic violence’, and impersonal stories of victimhood which serve to flatten this heterogeneous emergency. In short, many of these current accounts actually tell us little about the many ways in which new South Sudanese refugees are striving to live in…

An FAO/WFP Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission (CFSAM) visited South Sudan from 30 November to 12 December 2016 to estimate cereal production during 2016 and assess the overall food security situation. The CFSAM reviewed the findings of several crop assessment missions conducted at planting and harvest time in the different agro – ecological zones of the country from May to December 2016. As during 2014 and 2015, all assessment missions were carried out by…

In April 2017, I was part of a delegation of South Sudanese experts, activists and a religious leader that travelled to Addis Ababa to meet with policymakers at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), African Union (AU), United Nations (UN), Ethiopian government and other African and Western governmental organizations. While in Addis, the delegation delivered an urgent message: The situation in South Sudan has reached a tipping point; if the international community does not act…

This briefing document of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification outlines the key findings on the food security situation in South Sudan. It projects that it continues to deteriorate with 6 million (50% of the population) estimated to be severely food insecure (IPC Phases 3, 4, and 5), in June and July 2017. This is the greatest number of people ever to experience severe food insecurity in South Sudan.   Download

The South Sudanese parties to the conflict signed the Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (ARCISS) in August 2015 and essentially agreed to establish a federal system of government. This raises three critical questions. First, do the people of South Sudan support the establishment of federalism as envisioned by the warring parties? Second, does the public actually understand what it means to establish and run a federal system of government? Finally, how…

This paper discusses the state of South Sudan’s national unity. Our insights are based on interviews conducted with the members of parliament, representatives of women and youth, civil society organizations, intellectuals, and representatives of political parties residing in Juba, South Sudan. Most of the respondents look at national unity as a sense of common purpose, a sense of justice, and a sense of feeling included and benefiting from the state.

This paper examines the extent to which women’s issues are addressed in the 2015 Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan. It contends that while women’s issues are provided for in some parts of the agreement, opportunities for the inclusion of women were limited by the structure of the peace talks. Moreover, the agreement does not provide for bloc representation of women in the transitional arrangements, which can limit…

In 2005, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement / Army concluded a peace agreement, formally ending the 22-year-old civil war. Following a referendum, South Sudan seceded; donors put billions toward the new state and Sudan’s recovery, supporting – among other things – the development of new state institutions for both countries. However, in December 2013, war broke out again in South Sudan. Prevalent approaches to state building – such as those…

In order to examine the implications different forms and degrees of internationalised constitution making have on ideas of statehood and the legitimacy of a constitution, the study compares two cases—South Sudan and Somaliland—to explore contrasting patterns of international involvement in constitution making. South Sudan is the one ‘extreme’ case with strong international intervention, with Somaliland at the other ‘extreme’. This paper demonstrates that the actual process matters and once again reinforces scepticism about the ways…

In April 2016, seventeen chiefs from different parts of South Sudan gathered in Kuron Holy Trinity Peace Village, in Eastern Equatoria, to discuss the role of customary authority in governance—past and present—and their own contribution to peacemaking and a future political transition. The Chiefs’ meeting at Kuron was the first time that traditional leaders from areas on opposing sides of the conflict had met in South Sudan since 2013. This report draws on a transcript…

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