Social Science Research Council

Posted on behalf of Hassan E. Talib. Hassan is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS), in Khartoum, Sudan
Press conference diplomacy has been resorted to by Sudanese partners of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed between Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and government of Sudan in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 9, 2005. [...]

Posted on behalf of Peter Schumann, a former UNDP staff member with extensive experience in UN Peacekeeping operations, most recently as the Regional Coordinator and Representative of UNMIS in Southern Sudan

One of the last activities I was involved with was facilitating to strengthen the political relationship between the SPLM and the ‘Darfur Rebels’–we had two very important meetings in Juba, pre and post Abuja.

This posting continues a discussion of the main themes of War in Darfur and the Search for Peace (Harvard University Press 2007). The second part of the book draws on an appraisal of the Darfur peace process, conducted shortly after the closure of the Abuja peace process by several of the leading mediators and their [...]

Moments of crisis are also moments of opportunity. Sudan at the present has all the dimensions of an imminent crisis that could unravel the major achievements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the uncertain progress towards democracy.
The sharpest manifestation of the crisis is the SPLM’s suspension of its participation in the Government of National Unity, [...]

In a short article in October’s Prospect magazine I pose the question, what has been the impact of vigorous advocacy on the “responsibility to protect” on the prospects for peace in Darfur? A longer version will be published in the November issue of International Affairs.

For my fuller analysis of the challenges to the Darfur peace process after the Arusha meeting, see my analysis posted in the CSIS online Africa policy forum.

Last weekend’s meeting in Arusha, Tanzania, of leaders of Darfur’s armed movements marked the re-launch of a serious peace process for Darfur. It’s Darfur’s first AU-UN hybrid operation, this time in the diplomatic sphere, and — given the constraints and the modest definition of "success" in the political world — so far it is doing [...]

(Posted on behalf of Paul Kirby)
First, how sensible is sending 26,000 troops to ‘peacekeep’ when there is no peace agreement? Is there a serious chance of this inflaming the situation and sucking in UN/AU troops? Or should we suspect that they won’t deploy due to delaying tactics?
Second, now that the political noise has [...]

(posted on behalf of Angela R. Swayze, who recently served as an election observer in Nigeria with the National Democratic Institute of International Affairs)

I’d like to hear more discussion about how traditional and community level methods of mediation are currently faring given the history of government undermining these practices. In response to Martha Bixby’s question on the role American activists should play in the peace process, Alex de Waal cited a recent Washington Post op-ed by Julie Flint maintaining that [...]

The agreement between the UN, AU and Sudan Government in Addis Ababa today (June 12) on the AU-UN hybrid peacekeeping force for Darfur might—just might—be a breakthrough. Ambiguity lurks in the text. Problems will multiply with actually making it happen. But the progress made today should be an opportunity to refocus attention on the real [...]