Violent Legacies: Insecurity in Sudan’s Central and Eastern Equatoria (HSBA Working Paper 13)

Eastern and Central Equatoria States played distinctive roles in the two Suda-nese civil wars, the effects of which are still reverberating today. The current widespread insecurity, taking the form of tribal and resource-based conflict, armed group activity, and criminal violence, stems largely from shifting alli-ances, South–South conflict, and the politicization of armed groups during the second civil war and its aftermath.

These challenges, and their implica-tions  for  the  implementation  of  the  Comprehensive  Peace  Agreement,  can only be understood by examining the ethnic, political, and economic history of the Equatorians and their relations with the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement/Army. In doing this, the paper high-lights the underlying dynamics of the violence as well as its direct manifesta-tions, both of which must be addressed if human security is to be improved.