Jenn Christian's blog

On, May 2, the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution endorsing last week’s decision from the African Union Peace and Security Council. The resolution calls for, among other things, the immediate cessation of hostilities between Sudan and South Sudan and the two sides’ unconditional return, within two weeks, to negotiations under the facilitation of the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel, or AUHIP, with support from the Chair of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, or IGAD. The resolution further requires that the negotiations must conclude within three months. If a resolution cannot be reached within that time period, the resolution requests that the U.N. Secretary-General, in conjunction with the AUHIP, the Chair of IGAD, and the Chairman of the A.U. Commission, submit a report to include “detailed proposals on all outstanding issues.”  Read More »

Today, the Enough Project filed a petition before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, known as the African Human Rights Commission, against Sudan. The petition alleges that the government of Sudan’s indiscriminate aerial bombardment of civilian populations in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, its ground attacks against these populations, and its denial of international humanitarian aid to the two states violate, among other things, the rights to life and property afforded all Sudanese citizens under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, or the African Charter.  Read More »

Largely absent from recent coverage of Sudan and South Sudan has been the passage of the April 8 deadline after which ethnic southerners in Sudan—numbered as many as 700,000—were required to register as foreigners in Sudan or move back to South Sudan, where they are citizens.

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Both the U.N. Security Council and the A.U. Peace and Security Council issued statements about the rising conflict between Sudan and South Sudan yesterday, with the U.N. demanding and the A.U. calling on both countries to immediately to deescalate conflict along their ill-defined international border, including the South withdrawing from Heglig and the Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, ceasing aerial bombardments in South Sudan.  Read More »

Within the last two weeks, signs of progress have emerged from the two Sudans. In the context of tense negotiations between Khartoum and Juba, the developments are noteworthy but should be met with cautious optimism and vigilance by the international community.  Read More »

The Security Council did something truly extraordinary last week, particularly given recent dissent among its members over Syria and other geopolitical issues implicating human rights: on March 6 it issued a Presidential Statement on Sudan and South Sudan that appears to exhibit a growing international consensus on certain critical issues.  Read More »

The commission monitoring the implementation of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, or DDPD, convened its second meeting in El Fasher, Darfur last month. But some separate statements by prominent Darfuri leaders who aren’t part of the Doha process highlight the need for a forthright assessment of what the DDPD can tangibly accomplish in terms of security and lasting peace in Darfur.  Read More »

On Thursday, South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir issued a press statement outlining the reasons why the government of the Republic of South Sudan, or RSS, recently rejected a deal ostensibly designed to avoid the complete shutdown of oil production in South Sudan. Kiir further stressed that lasting peace between Sudan and South Sudan will not be found in an agreement concerning oil alone, but, rather, must be built atop resolutions to outstanding issues related to the disputed Abyei area and the North-South border, in addition to the economic and oil concerns that have recently stalled negotiations between Sudan and the RSS.  Read More »

Ahead of last week’s negotiations between Sudan and South Sudan on a commercial oil agreement, allegations came to light that the government of Sudan is again up to its old thieving tricks.

This op-ed originally appeared on Global Post.  Read More »

On the one-year anniversary of the commencement of the Southern Sudan referendum, January 9, 2012, the Ngok Dinka people of the disputed Abyei Area formally requested that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, or CERD, immediately consider the actions of the Sudanese government vis-à-vis the Ngok Dinka people in Abyei.  Read More »