Failures and Opportunities: Rethinking DDR in South Sudan (HSBA Issue Brief 17)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 4 February, 2021

Failures and Opportunities: Rethinking DDR in South Sudan examines the conflicting conceptions of DDR among its key stakeholders in South Sudan and the consequences of the programme’s serious limitations and modest successes. It also looks ahead to the prospects for DDR in an independent South Sudan.

Also available in ARABIC.

Fighting for Spoils: Armed Insurgencies in Greater Upper Nile (HSBA Issue Brief 18)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 4 February, 2021

Fighting for Spoils: Armed Insurgencies in Greater Upper Nile reviews the roots of the armed insurgencies led by George Athor, Peter Gadet, and other Southern commanders—all of whom have claimed to seek systemic changes to the Juba-based government or to overthrow it. It assesses the current approach of the SPLA and the government of the Republic of South Sudan (RoSS) to containing them, concluding that it is both ad hoc and unsustainable.

My Neighbour, My Enemy: Inter-tribal Violence in Jonglei (HSBA Issue Brief 21)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 3 February, 2021

My Neighbour, My Enemy: Inter-tribal Violence in Jonglei reviews the root causes and impacts of inter-tribal violence in Jonglei between the Lou Nuer and Murle since 2009, with a special focus on attacks by the Lou Nuer throughout Pibor county in December 2011 and January 2012. It assesses efforts by policymakers, church leaders, and others to address the problem.

Pendulum Swings: The Rise and Fall of Insurgent Militias in South Sudan (HSBA Issue Brief 22)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 3 February, 2021

Armed groups opposed to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) have been a feature of the landscape in South Sudan since the civil war era, in which the SPLA’s hegemony was under constant challenge. Other armed groups competed with the mainstream SPLA for territorial control and opposing visions and objectives. Khartoum’s support to anti-SPLA militias was a key government strategy in the later stages of the war.

Protective Measures: Local Security Arrangements in Greater Upper Nile (HSBA Issue Brief 23)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 3 February, 2021

Protective Measures: Local Security Arrangements in Greater Upper Nile discusses the organization of Local security arrangements (LSAs) in Greater Upper Nile and their impact on local security dynamics in the region, drawing on original research conducted in Mayom county in Unity, Uror county in Jonglei, and Fashoda county in Upper Nile prior to the outbreak of widespread conflict in Greater Upper Nile.

The Eastern Front and the Struggle against Marginalization (HSBA Working Paper 3)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 2 February, 2021

The Eastern Front and the Struggle against Marginalization describes the origins and the rise of the Beja Congress (and to a lesser extent the Rashaida Free Lions) and their armed rebellion, as well as the process leading up to the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) of 14 October 2006 and its aftermath. It sets the eastern rebellion in its broader national and regional contexts and provides a critical review of the ESPA, which ended the conflict.

Border in Name Only: Arms Trafficking and Armed Groups at the DRC-Sudan Border (HSBA Working Paper 4)

Submitted by Lionel Kosirnik on 2 February, 2021

Small arms trafficking across the western half of the border between Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has remained largely unexamined. The legacy of armed conflict in both countries, the presence of armed groups such as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on both sides of the border, and poor border control would suggest the possibility of a robust trade in small arms.