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South Sudan: From Independence to Civil War

Assessing U.S. Policy Toward South Sudan

Date: Thursday, July 19, 2018 / Time: 10:00am - 11:30am 

Center: Middle East North Africa Center

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South Sudan’s civil war is one of the most brutal and destructive conflicts of the 21st century. Could the war have been prevented? Could some of the atrocities and misery caused by the war have been avoided? On July 19 the U.S. Institute of Peace and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide hosted a discussion on what lessons should be learned from U.S. policy toward South Sudan in the years leading up to and during the civil war.

A new report by Simon-Skjodt Center Visiting Fellow Jon Temin that addresses several pivotal periods and alternative policy options in U.S. South Sudan policy was the springboard for the discussion. South Sudan experts and former U.S. officials commented on Temin's findings and discussed how lessons from U.S. policy on South Sudan should be applied to ongoing efforts to prevent and mitigate atrocities in South Sudan and around the world. Continue the conversation on Twitter with #SouthSudanLessons.

 

Speakers

Ambassador Donald Booth
Former U.S. Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan

Kate Almquist Knopf
Director, Africa Center for Strategic Studies, National Defense University
@almquistkate

Joshua Meservey 
Senior Policy Analyst, Africa and the Middle East, The Heritage Foundation
@JMeservey

Jon Temin
Visiting Fellow, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and Africa Director, Freedom House
@JonTemin

Mike Yaffe, welcoming remarks
Vice President, Middle East and Africa Center, U.S. Institute of Peace

Aly Verjee, moderator
Visiting Expert, United States Institute of Peace
@alyverjee

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