Field Dispatch: To the Referendum and Beyond- South Sudan’s Lesser Known Flashpoints
In less than six months, the people of southern Sudan will vote in a self-determination referendum that is expected to result in the secession of the South roughly a year from now. The dynamics shaping the historic and dramatic changes in Sudan are fluid, yet some of the core issues facing southern Sudan will endure regardless of the outcome of the referendum. In this field dispatch for Enough, southern Sudan field researcher Maggie Fick identifies some of these key, lesser recognized, flashpoints ...
Field Dispatch: Election Grievances Reverberate in the Countdown to the South’s Referendum
In the immediate aftermath of Sudan’s elections back in April, several potential flashpoints emerged. While the polls had passed generally peacefully in the South (at least at face value), the post-elections period has been marked by an escalation in tensions ...
South Sudan Capital Marks Six Months to Referendum
Hundreds gathered on a rainy morning in Sudan’s southern capital of Juba to mark the countdown to southern Sudan’s self-determination referendum ...
Clashes and Grievances in Historically-Tense Abyei
If history is any indication, Abyei will continue to be a volatile flashpoint in Sudan, with local populations bearing the brunt of higher-level disputes between Khartoum and Juba ...
South Sudan News Clips—The “Attractiveness” of Unity?
Despite the recent efforts of the National Congress Party to “make unity attractive” to southerners anxious to cast their votes in the upcoming self-determination referendum, the resounding sentiment of southerners still seems to rest in the “separation” camp ...
Khartoum’s “Unity” Campaign Comes to Juba
One of Sudan's vice presidents, Ali Osman Taha, traveled to Juba yesterday to discuss development projects in the South. It is hard not to see it as a move by Sudan's ruling National Congress Party to make unity more “attractive” ahead of the vote on southern secession ...
Now What for Sudan?
Before the elections are shelved and forgotten, it’s worth considering the lessons that all parties could learn from the process, given that it in the South, it was in some ways a “dry run” for the referendum ...
Kristof: Risk of ‘Catastrophic War’ Ahead in Sudan
Don’t miss out on the insights from The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof in his latest dispatch from Sudan. Here are a few key quotes and takeaways from this important piece ...
Southern Sudan’s Post-Election Flashpoints
Although the bulk of the results for Sudan’s recent national, regional, state, and local elections have been announced, the potential for local outbreaks of post-election violence in certain areas of the South remains. At this tense juncture, the results of several hotly contested races for state governor may spark local violence and potentially broader conflict in the near future, with consequences for the South’s fast-approaching self determination referendum. This dispatch provides a brief overview of some of the more disconcerting situations ...
Sudan’s Elections: Don’t Look Away Yet
If you read the recent Economist article that cavalierly proclaimed Sudan’s elections to be “horrid” in the North and “more or less fair” in the South, please think again ...
