Author: Amanda Hsiao

It “looked like the two sides were almost ready to go to war” in Sudan’s fraught border region of Abyei said the U.S. special envoy recently in a briefing. The situation was defused two weeks ago when the northern and southern Sudanese armies agreed to withdraw all unauthorized forces from the region by May 17. But as of yesterday, May 18, the withdrawal had not begun, according to a source on the ground ...

Alleged war criminal Ahmed Haroun was announced the winner of the Southern Kordofan governor’s race this past Sunday, in elections that the leading opponent party, the SPLM, has called fraudulent. According to the National Elections Commission, the national body that is running the vote, Haroun won with 201,000 votes, over the SPLM candidate’s 194,000. The ruling northern party also won more seats than the SPLM in the legislative assembly ...

Divisions between leading contenders in South Kordofan’s elections are widening in the results period, following what was largely a calm vote in the tense Sudanese border state. The race pitted incumbent governor, NCP-backed alleged war criminal Ahmed Haroun against the SPLM candidate and deputy governor Abdelaziz al-Hilu in a heated contest. Party rhetoric sharpened shortly after polls closed, with both the NCP and SPLM preemptively claiming that their candidate for governor had won ...

Sixteen states are coming before the United Nations Human Rights Council for a review of their human rights records. The exercise, known as the Universal Periodic Review, brings forward a U.N. member state once every four years for a conversation about the human rights situation in its country. Among those scrutinized this week is Sudan, a country whose regime has shown little interest in the protection and respect of the human rights of its citizens ...

Elections kicked off in Southern Kordofan today, a tense Sudanese border state that is host to a variety of armed actors, teeming with discontent among the population, and a competitive political scene divided between the ruling northern and southern parties, or the NCP and SPLM. Amid these dynamics, experts are warning about the potential for electoral-related violence to flare, as well as the effect that such a fragile situation may have on the vote itself. Last month, the home village of the SPLM candidate for governor Abdelaziz al-Hilu was allegedly attacked by militias, leaving 29 dead and 350 structures razed ...

Earlier this week, a draft of South Sudan’s transitional constitution was made public and submitted to South Sudan President Salva Kiir for his review. Once finalized, the document will serve as the guiding legal document for the new republic during its critical transitional phase. The contents of the draft, amended by an SPLM-dominated committee, have left some opposition members angry; one leader called the document a “dictatorial” move by the SPLM to maintain its monopoly on power ...

Upcoming elections in a heavily militarized border state have Sudan observers worrying that the exercise could lead to violence in an area whose stability is key to peace in Sudan. The vote, which was postponed since last April, will take place in South Kordofan state on May 2 and will select the state’s governor and legislative members. One candidate for governor is the notorious incumbent, Ahmed Haroun, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur ...

In a recent report analyzing South Sudan’s changing political scene, the International Crisis Group described the region’s transition to statehood as a “window of opportunity,” particularly for those formerly excluded from positions of political power, “in which relationships between, and among, state and non-state actors may be redefined.” The assurance of South Sudan’s independence in July appears to have altered the calculations of many of the region’s armed actors in similar fashion. Since the announcement of South Sudan’s referendum results in early February, the region’s headlines have been dominated by the violent activities of existing militias, and the announcements of ...

Yesterday marked the day when the African Union High Level Implementation Panel had hoped the two Sudanese ruling parties would reach an agreement on the status of Abyei. Under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended the North-South civil war, residents of this volatile border region should have been given the right to decide whether Abyei should be administered by the northern or southern government through a referendum. That option has been discarded by international mediators who are now working toward an agreement on Abyei’s status through high-level negotiations with the Sudanese and South Sudanese Presidents Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir ...

Since the announcement in February of Major General Scott Gration’s departure from the Sudan special envoy post, observers of U.S.-Sudan policy have been eager to learn who will be next to step up to bat. Former Ambassador Princeton Lyman, who has been part of the U.S. diplomatic team working on Sudan for the last six months, was announced as the new special envoy today ...