South Sudan
Efforts to implement an August 2015 peace agreement in South Sudan faltered in July 2016. The civil war, sparked by rivalry between the country’s two main leaders, resumed and has left the country on the brink of genocide, according the United Nations. The U.S. Institute of Peace has worked in South Sudan since before independence to bridge divides between communities and promote inclusion. USIP supports the Sudd Institute to conduct independent research, trains civic leaders on intergroup dialogue and gender dynamics, and produces of a youth-focused radio show.
Featured Publications
Why the U.S. Needs a Special Envoy for the Red Sea
The Trump administration has appointed four special envoys to coordinate U.S. policy toward key hot spots: Iran, North Korea, Syria, and Afghanistan. Yet in the Red Sea—one of the most volatile and lethal regions of the world afflicted by several interconnected conflicts and rivalries that pose significant challenges to American interests—U.S. policy has been rudderless in large part due to the absence of a similar post.
In South Sudan, the Trust Deficit Could Doom a new Peace Deal
On September 12, after nearly nine months of talks, the warring parties in South Sudan signed a “revitalized” peace agreement, superseding a 2015 accord and bringing an end to the High Level Revitalization Forum. But fighting has continued in the days since the deal was signed, and many remain skeptical that this agreement will succeed. USIP’s Aly Verjee discusses the deal.
South Sudan’s Civil War and Conflict Dynamics in the Red Sea
The five-year-old civil war in South Sudan is an unparalleled humanitarian and security crisis, causing the largest exodus of refugees on the African continent since the Rwandan genocide and leaving over a third of the population displaced and two-thirds severely food insecure. Beyond the human toll on South Sudan’s long-suffering citizens, the country’s unraveling underscores the shifting political and security fault lines in the Horn of Africa. This Special Report surveys the region’s various interstate hostilities and intrastate conflicts and suggests ways the United States can reassert its influence to begin contributing meaningfully to the resolution of South Sudan’s civil war and conflicts in the greater Red Sea region.
Current Projects
Generation Change Fellows Program
Generation Change works with young leaders across the globe to foster collaboration, build resilience and strengthen capacity as they transform local communities.
Sudanese and South Sudanese Youth Leaders Program
The U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) launched its Sudanese & South Sudanese Youth Leaders program in 2013. The program brings Sudanese and South Sudanese peacebuilders between ages 18 and 35 to Washington, DC to be in residence at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) for four months. The goal of the project is to support youth to gain the knowledge, skills, and confidence to further their peacebuilding work and position themselves as stronger peacebuilding agents in their communities. USIP will b...
Religious Landscape Mapping in Conflict-Affected States
Diplomats and peace practitioners often cite lack of familiarity with the religious landscape as a barrier to their engagement of religious actors. In 2013, USIP launched an initiative to address this need by developing a methodology for systematically mapping and assessing the religious sector’s influence on conflict and peace dynamics in discrete conflict settings. These mappings, which have been done or are underway in Libya, South Sudan, Iraq and Burma, help illuminate recommendations for effective partnerships within the religious sector for peacebuilding.