Friday 9 April 2010

Sudan Issue Brief: Symptoms and Causes: Insecurity and Underdevelopment in Eastern Equatoria

Eastern Equatoria state (EES) is one of the most volatile and conflict-prone states in Southern Sudan. An epicentre of the civil war (1983–2005), EES saw intense fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), as well numerous armed groups supported by both sides, leaving behind a legacy of landmines and unexploded ordnance, high numbers of weapons in civilian hands, and shattered social and community relations. EES has also experienced chronic food insecurity, a lack of basic services, and few economic opportunities. Cattle rustling, armed robbery, and banditry are endemic. With little or no official security presence in many areas of the state, protracted cycles of revenge attacks over natural resources, and land in particular, are common. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended the civil war, did not result in a tangible peace dividend for most EES communities; in fact, the return of war-era refugees to ancestral villages and the recent arrival of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from other parts of Sudan have exacerbated tensions over land and resources.
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Sudan – No Easy Ways Ahead

Towards the end of the six-year interim period defined in the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement (CPA), Sudan is potentially sliding into yet another crisis. The
general elections in April – the first in 24 years – represent a rare test of confidence for the country’s incumbent elites. For many observers, however, the
elections are merely a prelude to the referendum on the future status of South
Sudan scheduled for early 2011. Both the general elections and the referendum come at the end of a transitional period that has, in many ways, been more about stagnation than about transition.
The implementation of the CPA has often been delayed and was marred by a lack
of trust between its signatories: the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s
Liberation Movement (SPLM). As a consequence, the agreement has largely failed
to realize democratic transformation and to make the unity of the country attractive.
Instead, political tensions in the run-up to the elections indicate that older
conflicts still persist, and that the referendum will only reconfigure challenges.
The already fragile situation could easily trigger a new outbreak of violence

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