"For over half a century, since its independence on January 1, 1956, the Sudan has been at war with itself. Through the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005, the North-South dimension of the ...conflict was seemingly resolved by the independence of the South on the 9th of July 2011. However, as a result of issues, which were not resolved by the CPA, conflicts within the now two independent countries have reignited conflict between them because of allegations of support for each other's rebels. In Bound by Conflict: Dilemmas of the Two Sudans, Dr. Francis M. Deng and Daniel J.M. Deng critique the tendency to see these conflicts as separate and to seek isolated solutions for them, when, in fact, they are closely intertwined. The policy implication is that resolving conflicts within the two Sudans is critical to the prospects of achieving peace, security, stability, and cooperation between them, with the potential of moving them to some form of meaningful association. The conflicts in the two Sudans call for internal self-determination by distinct identifiable groups and regions through various forms of self-administration within the context of an integrated national framework. This requires that traditional values and institutions be harmonized with the norms and practices of modern constitutionalism, thereby bridging tradition and modernization. The international community, at sub-regional, continental, and global levels, is called upon to support this strategic framework through the three pillars of the Sovereignty as Responsibility, now recast as the Responsibility to Protect: the primary responsibility of the state, support for state capacity, and a more robust international involvement when states manifestly fail to discharge their primary responsibility to ensure protection for their populations. "
The overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003 in Iraq opened the door
for Kurdish nationalists to move toward outright independence.
Despite the recent visibility of the Kurds in the international
media, ...little is known about their political aspirations as
citizens of an autonomous region. In Secession and
Conflict Zheger Hassan employs a comparative analysis to
explore why Iraqi Kurdistan, despite being better positioned
institutionally and economically than the similar cases of South
Sudan and Kosovo, has not declared independence. In rebuilding Iraq
and fighting against the Islamic State, the Kurds have cultivated
important political alliances with the US and Europe, which have
garnered them international economic, military, and political
support. Though now well-positioned to function as an independent
state, Iraqi Kurdistan has vacillated in seizing this golden
opportunity to declare independence. The apparent Kurdish
willingness to forgo independence runs counter to the prevailing
narratives about the Kurds in the Middle East. Hassan draws not
only on the history of the Kurds but also on first-hand interviews
with high-ranking officials, journalists, and nationalists to
provide a new window into the calculations of Kurdish leaders as
they navigate the complicated politics of Iraq. Secession and
Conflict offers a new model for understanding the Kurdish
question in Iraq.
South Sudan became independent in 2011 after decades of rebel wars with the Government of Sudan. Independence prompted discussions about South Sudanese identity and shared history, in which material ...objects and cultural heritage featured as vitally important resources. However, the long-term effects of colonialism and conflict had largely precluded any concerted attempts to preserve material culture within the country; museums remained in Khartoum, the capital of the formally united Sudan. Furthermore, tens of thousands of objects had been removed from what is now South Sudan during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to museum and private collections around the world. Up to now there have been few attempts to reconnect the history of these South Sudanese museum collections with people in or from South Sudan. Pieces of a Nation is the first extended study of South Sudanese material cultural heritage in museum collections and beyond. The chapters discuss a range of different objects and practices - from museum objects taken from South Sudan in the context of enslavement and colonialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to efforts by South Sudanese to preserve their country's cultural heritage during recent conflicts. With essays by 32 contributors in Europe, South Sudan, Uganda and Australia, this book delivers a unique range of perspectives on museum objects from South Sudan and on heritage practices in the country and among its diaspora. Written by curators, academics, heritage professionals and artists in accessible and engaging style, it is intended for scholars, museum professionals and a wide range of individuals interested in South Sudan, African arts and cultures, the history of museum collecting and colonialism and/or the role of material heritage in peacebuilding and refugee contexts. At a time of widespread, prominent debates
over the provenance of museum collections from Africa and calls for restitution, this book provides an in-depth empirical study of the circumstances and practices that led to South Sudanese objects entering foreign museum collections and the importance of these objects in South Sudan and around the world today.
The fate of Sudan, by then the largest country in Africa, was clearly decided when results of the referendum vote were announced in February 2011. Policy makers, scholars and the international ...community began to grapple with critical issues that might arise after the independence of South Sudan and how different stakeholders were likely to react during the period of uncertainty. Political developments in Sudan were long-term outcomes of post-cold war revolutions in the world system after the Soviet Union collapsed. A domino effect of such events swept across Eastern Europe with some manifestations in the Horn of Africa. The fall of Mengistu Haile Mariam, marked the beginning of the redrawing of the map of Africa and posed a challenge to the long held principle of preservation of colonial borders that had been enshrined in the Charter of the Organisation of African Unity. The precedent set by the independence of Eritrea seemed to encourage southern Sudan to press forward for independence through a two pronged approach of armed struggle and diplomacy led by the Sudan People�s Liberation Army/Movement. This book attempts to understand national, regional and continental dimensions of the unresolved issues that could result in the escalation of conflict in the Sudan. It examines internal dynamics of the Sudan after secession of the south and how these dynamics might affect neighbouring countries in the geopolitical regions: the Horn of Africa, the Great Lakes Region and Central Africa. A section of the book is dedicated to dynamics within South Sudan as a new state. Post-conflict South Sudan as country was marked by extreme poverty, lack of infrastructure and prevalence of inter-communal armed violence. This book proposes possible policies to prevent the country from descending into a state of economic and social chaos. The book provides the argument that equitable and rational transformative socio-economic programmes and policies could greatly reduce potentials for conflict. This book calls on policy makers to pursue policies that could lead to concrete projects planned to alleviate poverty and provision of basic social services such as education, health, and safe water. The book comes to the conclusion that political stability will depend on collective actions of stakeholders to ensure that peace prevails both in the north and the south to guarantee human security in the region.
The story of a nation in turmoil on its way to splitting in two: "Thoroughly absorbing" ( The Wall Street Journal ). In recent decades, the situation in Africa's largest country, Sudan, progressively ...deteriorated into a failed state, with a war in Darfur claiming hundreds of thousands of lives. President Bashir was indicted by the International Criminal Court, and after South Sudan became independent in 2011, it was plagued by ethnic violence and human rights abuses. In this fascinating and immensely readable book, the Africa editor of the Economist gives an absorbing account of Sudan's descent into failure and what some have called genocide. Drawing on interviews with many of the main players, Richard Cockett explains how and why Sudan has disintegrated, looking in particular at the country's complex relationship with the wider world. He shows how the United States and Britain were initially complicit in Darfur—but also how a broad coalition of human-rights activists, right-wing Christians, and opponents of slavery succeeded in bringing the issues to prominence in the United States and creating an impetus for change at the highest level. "Accessible, informative... Numerous maps and an impressive bibliography add credibility to this fine work." — Publishers Weekly
In 1863 slaves and conscript soldiers from Sudan landed in Mexico. What has happened? The Egyptian Khedive has sent them on the request of Napoleon III to fight for the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian ...against the Mexican republican troops of Benito Juarez of Zapotec origin. Although the story of this military adventure is so multi-facetted and connects a mosaic of diverse identities it is largely forgotten. Based on personal experience, literary translations, interviews, and the exploration of other repositories, David E. Long and Sebastian Maisel bring back the life-stories of those brave Sudanese men and their descendants and their ultimate fight for freedom and independence.
David E. Long was a foreign service diplomat, professor of Islamic and Security Studies, and international consultant on the Middle East and international terrorism.
Sebastian Maisel is professor for Arabic language and translations at Leipzig University (Germany). His research focus is on language pedagogy and sociolinguistics with an emphasis on identity studies of minority groups.
Originating from the 2008 27th annual conference of the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) of the same title, these essays document and analyze Sudans chronic history of conflict since independence in ...1956 as well its own and international efforts to brin.
South Sudan: Elites, Ethnicity, Endless Wars and the Stunted State is likely to achieve its objective of stimulating debate about the future of South Sudan as a viable polity. The hope is that ...readers, through the debate generated by this book, will rediscover the commonality that marked the struggle for freedom, justice, and fraternity, and abandon ethnic ideologies as a means of constructing a modern state in South Sudan. South Sudan: Elites, Ethnicity, Endless Wars and the Stunted State is a must-read for South Sudanese intellectuals who want to reshape the socioeconomic and political development trajectory.