Amanda Hsiao's blog

Sudan and South Sudan signed a deal today that will resume oil flow and create a demilitarized zone between the two countries. However, a resolution on Abyei and border disputes was not included in the deal.  Read More »

Four days into a presidential summit on a list of unresolved issues Juba and Khartoum appear close to a deal on security arrangements, in addition to a provisional financial deal the two sides agreed to in the last round. The two countries remain divided over the issue of Abyei, a contested border territory that was guaranteed a final status referendum under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.  Read More »

A summit between Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir has yet to secure an agreement on a number of tinderbox issues between the two countries. The top-level meeting, which officially began today in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, is taking place two days after the September 22 deadline that the African Union established for the conclusion of negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan..  Read More »

In a surprising post-deadline decision on Saturday night, Sudan and South Sudan agreed on a financial package, inclusive of oil fees. Actual oil flow though, from South Sudan through Sudan, will only resume when an agreement on the remaining outstanding issues is reached. They include the final status of Abyei, border demarcation and disputes, and security arrangements.  Read More »

South Sudan’s first year as a nation, marked by a fast deteriorating economy, a return to hostilities with Sudan, and significant inter-communal violence, was expectedly celebrated with less fanfare than its official independence from Sudan last year.  Read More »

“I ran because I saw many militias and SAF,” said Malak Miyen, an elderly Ngok Dinka man. “I survived because of God.” Malak was in Abyei town when Sudan government forces and allied militias violently took over the Abyei territory in May 2011, in response to alleged South Sudan army provocation. For over a year, he has been displaced in a town 37 kilometers south of Abyei town called Agok. A new Enough Project field dispatch, “Abyei In Flux,” examines the current security and political dynamics, and communities’ sentiments on the ground, as the contested area’s population returns home.  Read More »

Just over a year after Sudan government forces invaded the disputed border area of Abyei, the Enough Project has confirmed through several sources that Khartoum has pulled out the remaining Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, from the region. The government of Sudan has, however, left in place an unconfirmed number of Sudan government police, which actors on the ground suspect may, in fact, be SAF personnel in police uniform.  Read More »

Taking the first of many steps deemed necessary by the international community for bringing South Sudan and Sudan back from the brink, the South Sudan government has pulled out its police forces from the Abyei area. The move, which was confirmed by U.N. peacekeepers on the ground officially on May 10, follows on decisions from both the African Union and the United Nations that redeployment “of all Sudanese and South Sudanese forces out of the Abyei Area” should take place within two weeks—or, by today.  Read More »

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir announced in a press statement released Friday afternoon that southern forces would unconditionally withdraw from Heglig—10 days after seizing the disputed oil-rich region from Sudan forces—in a gesture that is likely aimed primarily at restoring South Sudan’s declining image before the international community.  Read More »

Since the re-taking of the disputed area of Heglig by the South Sudan army last Monday, a move that has dramatically escalated hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan, the military situation has been marked by flare-ups along the North-South border and constant bombings of South Sudan by Sudan. Now the expectation is that a large counter-offensive by Sudan into Heglig could begin at any moment.  Read More »