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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.
List of contents
Maps Preface Acknowledgments AbbreviationsIntroduction: The “New Sudan”: How Sudan’s Break-Up Prepared the Ground for More War Sudan after the CPA South Sudan after the CPA1 The Two Sudans and the Defeat of the CPA Reform Project South Sudan and the burden of independence Post-separation relations The cooperation agreements The cooperation agreements and continued military raids2 Independent South Sudan and the Burden of Liberation History The burden of the liberation wars Political violence and the development of a sub-culture of guns The CPA and the unrelenting violence The CPA and the exclusionary peace South Sudan and the legacy of liberation ideologies3 Sudan’s Wars: The Experience of One Village4 Political Rivalries, the New Wars and the Crumbling Social Order The 2013 outbreak of conflict: what caused this crisis? How political disagreement turned violent Power politics or tribal wars?5 Reporting Sudan’s Wars: The Media and the Blurred Line Between Informing and Inciting War and sexual violence Displacement and social life6 Mixed Economies, Corruption and Social Disparity The decentralized system of government and its shortfalls Mixed economies, social disparities, conflict and the role of corruption Governance and the role of policy research7 Ethnic Relations, the New War and the (Dis)Unity of South Sudan Obstacles to collective belonging Public goods and services as the success of the state History as the foundation of nationhood The new civil war and prospects for a united South Sudan Cultural exclusion could keep South Sudan in perpetual conflict8 Conclusion: The Fates of the Two Sudans Landing on hard ground Ambivalent new neighbors A history of violent interactions or a future of links? Invisible connections and the promise of peaceful co-existence Notes Bibliography Index
About the author
Jok Madut Jok is a professor of history at Loyola Marymount University, California, and a professor of anthropology at the University of Juba, South Sudan. He is also the founding director of the Sudd Institute, a public policy research centre. His previous books include
Sudan: Race, Religion and Violence, also published by Oneworld, and
The Sudan Handbook.
Summary
A leading expert on the Sudans analyses why so many attempts to bring peace to the region have failed and sets out what it will take to finally see an end to the violence
