March 19, 2013
Oxfam
Abstract:
In South Sudan, widespread euphoria following independence in July 2011 has given way to disappointment that expected peace dividends have not materialised. Many South Sudanese are experiencing insecurity, a lack of access to basic services, and increasing inequalities. Pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities in remote border areas are particularly affected by insecurity and by a lack of social services, and women are particularly marginalised. This report is the result of Oxfam research to enable the needs and views of conflict-affected communities to be voiced, heard, and addressed, particularly in relation to security and livelihoods and with an emphasis on women’s participation. It focuses on the security concerns expressed by the communities themselves: conflict within and between communities, cattle raiding, and violence against women....
March 4, 2013
Human Security Baseline Assessment // Small Arms Survey
Abstract:
Two years ago, Abyei was scheduled to have a referendum to determine whether it
would re-join the southern states that now compose South Sudan, or remain in Sudan.
That referendum ran aground due to disagreements over who was eligible to vote, with
the National Congress Party insisting that the Missiriya—seasonal migrants who graze
their cattle in Abyei during the dry season—must participate, and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement insisting that it is the Ngok Dinka—Abyei’s principle residents—
who must decide the territory’s future.
The African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, which is currently mediating in
negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan, made a proposal on 21 September for
Abyei’s referendum to finally be held in October 2013. The proposal excludes migrants
from voting. While South Sudan accepted the proposal, Sudan refused it.
Negotiations since then have faltered, despite international pressure, with the most recent
meetings in January between the two countries ending in a commitment to make future
discussions of Abyei’s political future conditional on the creation of a local
administration in Abyei and a police force.
Initial meetings about the police force at the beginning of February 2013 indicate
widespread divergences between the two countries as to the number of officers in the
force, and recent meetings of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee over the formation of
the local administration ran aground after Sudan demanded 50% of the representation on
the Abyei Area Council, 10% more than its previous share. This demand led to South
Sudan suspending the nomination process for executive positions in the administration
while council membership is negotiated at upcoming meetings in Addis Ababa....
February 28, 2013
Center for Global Development
Abstract:
The time to normalize US diplomatic relations with the two Sudans is now. After more than a decade of US special envoys (Danforth, Zoellick, Natsios, Williamson, Gration, and Lyman)* and the independence of South Sudan in July 2011, it is time for the United States to reevaluate what it is trying to achieve in its relations with the two Sudans and how best it can do that. In other words, does the United States still need a special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and, if so, why? This paper argues that to achieve peace and stability within and between Sudan and South Sudan, the United States must now refocus its diplomatic engagement on the internal governance challenges in both states by moving to more normal diplomatic relations with each....
February 21, 2013
Amnesty International
Abstract:
Twenty-four people were killed and more than 60 injured in Wau, the capital of South
Sudan’s Western Bahr El Ghazal State, in December 2012. The deaths and injuries occurred
during protest actions and reprisal attacks following a decision by the state government to
relocate Wau County headquarters from Wau to Bagari, 19km away. Eleven deaths were at
the hands of state security officers, who opened fire on protestors, while 13 deaths were the
result of inter-ethic clashes that broke out after the killing of the protestors.
Between December 2012 and February 2013, the state authorities also arrested scores of
people considered to be opponents of the state government. These include members of the
state legislative assembly, civil servants, civil society activists, journalists and members of
“youth groups”.
This briefing focuses on human rights violations committed by the authorities, including the
security forces, in Western Bahr El Ghazal State between December 2012 and January 2013.
It is based on research carried out by Amnesty International in Juba, the capital of South
Sudan, and Wau, the capital of Western Bahr El Ghazal State, from 28 January to 14
February 2013, including a mission to Wau from 4-11 February 2013. Amnesty International
delegates interviewed both national and state government officials, including the Governor of
Wau; Wau County Legislative Assembly; and members of the security forces including the
South Sudan Police Service (SSPS), South Sudan Armed Force, known as the Sudan
Peoples’ Liberation Army (SPLA), the Wildlife Forces, and the Prison Service. The National
Security Service (NSS) in Wau refused to meet with Amnesty International. Interviews were
also carried out with the UN and international NGOs, medical staff who treated gunshot
victims, civil society, youth activists and church community leaders whose names have been
withheld due to fear of arrest and harassment by the authorities....
February 15, 2013
International Crisis Group
Abstract:
The war in South Kordofan shows no sign of ending anytime soon. There are echoes of the 1984-2002 civil war, but the dynamics are quite different. The insurgents, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) based in the Nuba Mountains, are much better armed, and the state’s ethnic cleavages are much less pronounced. The SPLM-N is also part of an alliance with Darfur rebels, the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), that is working to include disenchanted armed groups from other regions as well. Arab tribes that previously supplied militias that did much of the fighting no longer support the government wholeheartedly; significant numbers have joined groups fighting Khartoum. The conflict shows every sign of strategic stalemate, with each side hoping pressure from elsewhere will change its foe’s calculations. Yet, it is exacting an horrendous toll, principally among civilians. Unless the government and the SRF engage each other and, with international help, negotiate a comprehensive solution to Sudan’s multiple conflicts, there will be no stop to endless wars that plague the country.
The root causes of the conflict – political marginalisation, land dispossession and unimplemented promises, remain the same. But ethnic dynamics have changed in important ways. The Misseriya Arabs, the government’s main local supporters during the first war, have grown increasingly frustrated with Khartoum, in particular its 2005 decision to abolish the West Kordofan state that represented the tribe’s ethnically homogenous homeland. They no longer heed the government’s calls to remobilise, and many young Misseriya are joining the SPLM-N or other groups in the SRF. The other major Arab tribe in the state, the Hawazma, is also starting to switch sides....
South Sudan 
