Sudan's Forces for Freedom and Change and the Transitional Military Council recently signed a power-sharing accord, but the agreement has yet to be formally implemented. Susan Stigant explains what’s holding up implementation and how the agreement addresses transitional justice.  

Related Publications

Countering Coups: How to Reverse Military Rule Across the Sahel

Countering Coups: How to Reverse Military Rule Across the Sahel

Thursday, August 3, 2023

By: Kamissa Camara;  Susan Stigant

Three years of coups around Africa’s Sahel region — eight of them in six nations, from Guinea on the Atlantic to Sudan on the Red Sea — leave many African and other policymakers frustrated over how to respond. The Sahel’s crises have uprooted more than 4 million people and could add millions more to our record levels of global human migration as Africa’s population grows and its climate destabilizes. Yet the pattern of coups and other evidence — notably from USIP’s Sahel fieldwork, counter-coup research and bipartisan analysis teams — offer guidelines for effective responses by African, U.S. and international policymakers.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Global Policy

A Coup in Niger: What It Means for Africa, U.S. and Partners

A Coup in Niger: What It Means for Africa, U.S. and Partners

Thursday, July 27, 2023

By: Kamissa Camara

This morning’s coup d’etat in Niger only deepens the pattern of instability across Africa’s Sahel and damages what has been a rare process of fairly steady democracy building in the region. Niger’s democratically elected government has been a valued partner for African and international efforts to stabilize the Sahel against its web of insurgencies, extremist movements and military coups. Kamissa Camara, a former foreign minister of Niger’s neighbor, Mali, now an analyst on the region with USIP, says the coup underlines lessons already evident about how to improve international efforts to build democracy and peace.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Civilian-Military RelationsDemocracy & Governance

Sudan’s Crisis Offers New Lessons for Building Peace in the Sahel

Sudan’s Crisis Offers New Lessons for Building Peace in the Sahel

Thursday, May 25, 2023

By: Joseph Sany, Ph.D.;  Susan Stigant

Sudan’s five-week war has killed or wounded over 5,000 people, uprooted a million more — and reignited understandable frustrations over how U.S. and international policies can better prevent or respond to such upheavals. Amid heated policy debates, we should step back briefly to pinpoint lessons from this crisis that can improve our responses in Sudan and across the Sahel’s web of coups, insurgencies and extremism. Indeed, that task is urgent — both to address the complex evolutions in the region’s crises and to build support for smarter, steadier engagement, rather than a self-defeating retreat from the Sahel by global partners seeking democracy and stability.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Civilian-Military RelationsDemocracy & Governance

Sudan: Engage Civilians Now, Not Later

Sudan: Engage Civilians Now, Not Later

Thursday, May 18, 2023

By: Susan Stigant

Over the last month, a series of cease-fires in Sudan have yielded minimal results. Fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has continued and even intensified in some places. While the capital Khartoum and areas surrounding key infrastructure remain the core battlegrounds, the clashes have spread into other parts of the country.

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Conflict Analysis & PreventionPeace Processes

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