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United States Institute of Peace

Susan Stigant

Director of Africa Programs

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Susan Stigant is the director of Africa Programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace where she leads programming in East Africa and the Greater Horn, on the Red Sea Arena and with the African Union. Her thematic focus is on the design and implementation of inclusive constitutional reform and national dialogue processes.

Prior to joining USIP, Stigant managed constitutional development, citizen engagement and election observation programs with the National Democratic Institute (NDI). From 2005-2011, she served as program director with NDI in Southern Sudan, where she supported the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. She also worked with the Forum of Federations on comparative federalism and with the research unit of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament in South Africa.

Publications By Susan

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

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 Relations;  Democracy & 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 & Prevention;  Peace Processes

Susan Stigant on the U.S. Response to the Fighting in Sudan

Susan Stigant on the U.S. Response to the Fighting in Sudan

Monday, April 24, 2023

By: Susan Stigant

As the Sudanese military and Rapid Support Forces continue fighting, the United States needs to avoid getting “caught in the trap that we’re trying to choose one [side] over the other. At the end of the day, there’s a third voice here, and that’s civilians and the Sudanese people,” says USIP’s Susan Stigant.

Type: Podcast

What’s Behind the Fighting in Sudan?

What’s Behind the Fighting in Sudan?

Thursday, April 20, 2023

By: Susan Stigant

Since Saturday, violent clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have been raging in the capital Khartoum and in other strategic areas throughout the country. While it’s unclear who initiated the fighting, the situation brings the de-facto leader of Sudan, the SAF’s General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, into direct confrontation with his deputy, the RSF’s General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who is also referred to as “Hemetti.”

Type: Analysis and Commentary

Conflict Analysis & Prevention

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