Sudan's Painful Road to Peace by Arop Madut Arop was designed as a reference book for students of Sudanese politics, but even more important is the fact that it contains comprehensive records of the recent history of Southern Sudan. Arop wishes the book to serve as a reminder to the Sudanese policy makers that such a destructive war that has held the socio-economic national advancement hostage for five decades should never be repeated

In the 1960s, only 10% of peace agreements included some element of political-military accommodation – namely, military integration. From Burundi to Bosnia to Zimbabwe, that number had increased to over 50% by the 2000s. However, relatively little is understood about this dimension of power-sharing often utilized during war-to-peace transitions. Through an examination of the case of South Sudan between 2006 and 2013, this book explores why countries undergoing transitions from war to peace decide to integrate armed groups into a statutory security framework. This book details how integration contributed to short-term stability in South Sudan, allowing the government to overcome wartime factionalism and consolidate political-military power prior to the referendum on self-determination in 2011. It also examines how the integration process in South Sudan was flawed by its open-ended nature and lack of coordination with efforts to right-size the military and transform the broader defense sector, and how this led the military to fragment during periods of heightened political competition. Furthermore, the book explains why integration ultimately failed in South Sudan, and identifies the wider lessons that could be applied to current or future war-to-peace transitions. This book will be of great interest to students of war and conflict studies, peacebuilding, post-conflict reconstruction, African security issues, and International Relations in general, as well as to practitioners.

After decades of civil war, the people of southern Sudan voted to secede from the north in an attempt to escape the seemingly endless violence. On declaring independence, South Sudan was one of the least developed places on earth, but with the ability to draw upon significant oil reserves worth $150 million a month, the foundation for a successful future was firmly in place. How, then, did the state of the new nation deteriorate even further, to the point that a new civil war broke out two years later? Today, with both Sudans still hostage to the aspirations of their military and political leaders, how can their people escape the violence that has dominated the two countries’ recent history? By giving voice to those who, after the break-up of Sudan, have had to find ways to live, trade and communicate with one another, Jok Madut Jok provides a moving insight into a crisis that has only rarely made it into our headlines. Breaking Sudan is a meticulous account, analyzing why violence became so deeply entrenched in Sudanese society and exploring what can be done to find peace in two countries ravaged by war.

The book offers a history of the discourses and diplomacies of Sudan’s civil wars. It explores the battle for legitimacy between the Sudanese state and Southern rebels. In particular, it examines how racial thought and rhetoric were used in international debates about the political destiny of the South. By placing the state and rebels within the same frame, the book uncovers the competition for Sudan’s reputation. It reveals the discursive techniques both sides employed to elicit support from diverse audiences, amidst the intellectual ferment of Pan-Africanism, the Cold War, and Black liberation politics. It maintains that the interplay of silences and articulations in both the rebels' and the state’s texts concealed and complicated aspects of the country’s political conflict. In sum, the book demonstrates that the war of words waged abroad represents a strategic, but often overlooked, aspect of the Sudanese civil wars.

When South Sudan's war began, the Beatles were playing their first hits and reaching the moon was an astronaut's dream. Half a century later, with millions massacred in Africa's longest war, the continent's biggest country split in two. It was an extraordinary, unprecedented experiment. Many have fought, but South Sudan did the impossible, and won. This is the story of an epic fight for freedom. It is also the story of a nightmare. First Raise a Flag details one of the most dramatic failures in the history of international state-building. three years after independence, South Sudan was lowest ranked in the list of failed states. War returned, worse than ever. Peter Martell has spent over a decade reporting from palaces and battlefields, meeting those who made a country like no other: warlords and spies, missionaries and mercenaries, guerrillas and gunrunners, freedom fighters and war crime fugitives, Hollywood stars and ex-slaves. Under his seasoned foreign correspondent's gaze, he weaves with passion and colour the lively history of the world's newest country. First Raise a Flag is a moving reflection on the meaning of nationalism, the power of hope and the endurance of the human spirit.

Parallel with the previous volume of conference papers in 2008, Sudan’s Wars and Peace Agreements, most of these selected and thematic articles were originally presented as papers at the 31st meeting of the Sudan Studies Association (SSA) at Arizona State University in 2012. Since that time, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 provided for the self-determination referendum of 2011 that resulted in the independence of the new Republic of South Sudan. The previous book presaged this present volume as the, perhaps inevitable, outcome of endless conflicts with no serious effort to “make unity attractive.” As this book goes to press, the new Republic of South Sudan is itself wracked with violent conflict. The hopes to build a new, democratic and civil society in the south from the many inherited problems have now devolved to dysfunction itself. Reading this book will realistically help in understanding these “Roads” taken. The editors and authors have created a multi-faceted account which reveals the complex foundations of these conflicts between north and south, and recently within the south itself. While Khartoum struggles onward with the Islamist project, regional conflicts and grave economic problems, Juba stumbles with corruption, armed rebellion and a grave humanitarian crisis. The half-full glass of dreams of social and economic development supported by oil revenue has been replaced by a glass half empty with new varieties of political dysfunction in which both nations have grave problems in security and economic stability in a generally troubled regional “neighborhood.”

Many people know that war has devastated Sudan’s people, killing millions over the past 30 years. However, they may not know the causes and motivations behind the many factions of Africa’s largest country. While these topics are discussed, a glimpse of the civil war through the eyes of a girl in northern Sudan and a boy in the south are also provided. As letters are exchanged between the two, one in the city of Khartoum and the other in a refugee camp, they relate how differently their lives are affected by the conflict. Readers will gain a thorough understanding of the profound cost of this war through age-appropriate language and striking photographs.