China may be a weapon which Khartoum and Juba use in their conflicts but oil interests lock all three parties into a triangular relationship
On 15 March, President Omer Hassan Ahmed el Beshir sent a message of congratulations to China’s new President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, who officially assumed...
Vol 53 No 23 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
The governing party cracks down on critics at home as its negotiations with Khartoum continue to frustrate
The prospect of oil exports resuming in the next few weeks and the economic boost that brings should have cheered President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s government. However, long-term improvements...
Vol 53 No 22 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
Security is still being tightened after coup rumours, along with discontent triggered by the 27 September agreements with Sudan. The arrest of a senior Sudan People’s Liberation Army...
The nine agreements signed between the Khartoum and Juba governments on 27 September will throw the focus back on to the appalling living conditions in both states. The agreements include a deal on resuming oil production in South Sudan. Economic conditions in both countries worsened sharply after Juba halted oil production in January in protest at what it said was massive cheating by the Khartoum regime on arrangements to share oil revenue and the charges that Juba paid to export its oil via Port Sudan
Expectations are high that restarting oil production in South Sudan will provide an economic boost to both Sudans. How much of a boost depends on how far governance...
Vol 53 No 20 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
A serious campaign to stem corruption will require a regulatory framework. In December 2009, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan (GRSS) published the Southern Sudan Anti-Corruption...
Vol 53 No 20 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
The Khartoum regime was air dropping supplies to rebel militia in South Sudan as its negotiators prepared to sign the 27 September peace agreements with Juba, the United...
Another round of talks may stave off hostilities but is unlikely to yield a credible border security agreement by the 22 September deadline
Much hard negotiating lies ahead between Juba and Khartoum after talks restarted on 4 September, following a month’s delay for the funeral of Ethiopian Premier Meles Zenawi and...
Vol 53 No 17 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
Economic crisis has fuelled anti-government protest in Sudan
but in South Sudan, it has fuelled hostility to outsiders, real and
imagined. Police in Jonglei State descend on aid agencies and
businesses...
Negotiations are likely to drag on, despite UN efforts to pressure both Juba and Khartoum and the threat of a return to all-out war
As the 2 August deadline imposed by the United Nations Security Council loomed, Khartoum and Juba vied to be seen as the least obstructive government at their...
Vol 53 No 15 |
- SOUTH SUDAN
Despite the high hopes of the nearly 99% of electors who voted for secession in the 2011 referendum, few outsiders expected South Sudan’s transition to Independence to go smoothly. Some – including many journalists – sourly predicted the world’s ‘first pre-failed state’. However, the prospect of a substantial ‘peace dividend’, with development driven by oil exports and substantial post-war reconstruction assistance, held out the promise of a better future for its war-ravaged and poverty-stricken people. A year later, this promise has clearly not materialised.
At Independence in July 2011, South Sudan had an estimated per capita gross domestic product of over US$1,500, almost twice that of Kenya. The government’s 2011 budget...