Development Deferred: Eastern Sudan after the ESPA (HSBA Working Paper 36)

Almost a decade after the signing of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) there is a need for an independent review of its implementation that takes into account the viewpoints of all stakeholders involved in or affected by the agreement. Development Deferred: Eastern Sudan after the ESPA investigates and analyses the implementation of the ESPA in an attempt to answer key questions: what role has the GoS played in implementing the agreement? What have been the roles of the movements comprising the EF? What impact has the ESPA had on the people of Eastern Sudan? What are the current challenges to and constraints on human security in the region? And what are the prospects for development for the region? The current study also applies a gendered approach to clarify how the conflict in Eastern Sudan and the peace agreement may have impacted the lives of men and women differently.

The paper is based on desk research and on field research in Sudan in June and July 2014. Fieldwork included interviews with diverse stakeholders, including Sudanese government officials, members and leaders of the movements that comprised the EF, and other political and civil society activists. Interviews took place in Khartoum, Kassala, Gedaref, and Port Sudan. A number of interviews took place in Asmara, Eritrea, in June 2014 and via Skype.

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