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South Sudanese women have played critical roles in efforts to achieve peace in South Sudan, yet their contributions have been under-recognized and under-documented. This paper contributes to remedying this by sharing women’s stories of their roles in peace making through the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005), the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (2015) and the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (2018). It utilizes the ‘Broadening…

Spiritual and divine authorities play a prominent role in mobilizing armed violence. This article provides a micro-history of a contemporary Nuer prophetess (guan kuoth) in South Sudan who mobilized hundreds of armed men including in support of current anti-government rebellions. The article grapples with apparent paradoxes in her approach to kume (a broadly defined notion of government) and customary law. This prophetess rejects logics of authority associated with the kume. At the same time, she champions the continuity…

Introduction – why the economy matters South Sudan faces three major and interlinked crises: a political crisis which is manifest in part in violent conflict and insecurity; a humanitarian crisis which feeds off the political crisis and; an economic crisis, which is fundamentally about how the resources available to South Sudan are allocated and used. While it is possible to ruin an economy very quickly, sustainably growing and developing an economy in a way that…

This paper maps five cases of recent local level peace deals in South Sudan between 2014 and 2018 to identify key criteria that strengthen the prospects of successful implementation and sustainability of local peace agreements. Critically, there are no generic formulas to achieve effective sustainable local peace deals. What works is highly contingent on the specific local context. Nonetheless, the set of criteria identified in this paper offers a useful guide for external actors who…

As South Sudan moves towards forming a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) in February 2020, questions around the return and resettlement of over 4.15 million South Sudanese are rising up the political agenda. There is an urgent need to consider lessons from the previous return migration and resettlement processes, and controls on returnees’ movements, particularly from those around the CPA period (2002-2012). This briefing note is part of this process, reflecting on the…

South Sudanese women have always participated in peace processes but usually not at the front lines of negotiations. Despite considerable challenges, their bottom-up approach and collective action at grassroots level have led to greater representation in the formal peace processes and the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity. However, to achieve positive peace in South Sudan, women must have access to justice, resources and meaningful representation in positions of power. Download

Millions of dollars of one of the world’s most sought-after hardwoods is coming from an unlikely source – South Sudan. Originally planted in the 1940’s by British colonists, South Sudan’s teak reserves are among the largest in Africa. Without regulatory protections in place, what could have become a sustainable revenue source for the young nation has instead enriched domestic armed actors and foreign elites, further contributing to South Sudan’s instability. The report, Money Tree: Teak…

This is the first in a series of three briefing papers that form part of the Mind the gap – Bridging the research, practice and policy divide to enhance livelihood resilience in conflict settings project, a collaboration between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Feinstein International Center, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. This briefing paper accompanies a report that highlights major new findings on…

At this writing, the peace process in South Sudan remains at a critical juncture. The transitional government of national unity was due to be formed by the end of the extended pre-transitional period on 12 November 2019. Instead, the signatories to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) agreed, at the 7 November summit hosted by Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, to push back the deadline for another 100 days….

International sponsors of South Sudan’s peace process should respond creatively to the delay in forming the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU). An intemperate response, which might include a new, immovable and near deadline or rapidly imposing sanctions, runs two risks. First, it jeopardizes the ceasefire—the truly substantial achievement of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS). Second, a deadline could be an opportunity for the government of Pres….

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