Publications: Weekly Reviews

This Weekly Review analyses the looming legitimacy crisis in South Sudan and how it may be averted. With the scheduled December 22 general elections as announced by the Chairperson of the National Elections Commissions (NEC), the President is bound by the provisions of the National Elections Act to dissolve by...

This Review assesses the recently passed South Sudan’s National Elections Act, 2023 based on the crucial question of delineating new geographical constituencies ahead of the December 2024 general elections. The Review analyzes the constituency threshold formula proposed by the National Elections Act and uses the suggested calculation guidelines to construct...

This Weekly Review assesses the South Sudan’s National Elections Act, 2023. This is paramount because the upcoming elections are crucial for democratic consolidation in the country. Time, however, is running out as there are only 14 months left before the elections are supposedly held.

On Thursday, April 6, 2023, South Sudan’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and other agencies, released what it calls Population Estimation Survey results (PES), putting the population at 12.45 million.

On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) issued a Press Statement. It provided an update to the public, the region, and diplomatic community on the status of the implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), while...

This Weekly Review is part of the know your constitution series launched by the Sudd Institute’s constitutional law researchers. It summarizes the stages, principles, and mechanisms of constitution-making as stipulated under the Constitution-Making Process Act, 2022.

The three-day papal visit to South Sudan, from February 3-5, 2023, is both historic and humbling. Taken as such, there is every reason to believe that it has symbolically and tangibly done some good to our beloved citizens, national leaders, and the country.

Based on interviews with actors closely involved in the discussions, this Weekly Review examines the influence of international law in the negotiations on South Sudan’s permanent constitution-making process relating to public participation. While international law was infrequently referred to in the negotiations, much of what was discussed and agreed resonates...

On November 17, 2022, the South Sudanese authorities reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF to conclude the third and final review of a Staff-Monitored Program (SMP) and on key economic policies supporting a disbursement under the New Food Shock Window (FSW) of the Rapid Credit Facility (RCF) for about...

In the aftermath of the EVD outbreak in the Republic of Uganda, the threat of cross-border spread to the neighboring countries, such as South Sudan, has been elevated from “high” to “very high.” As a result, South Sudan has been re-classified as a priority country for the EVD prevention and preparedness.

This Review identifies and problematizes certain key aspects of the Peace Agreement likely to derail constitution-making process. These four conundrums are:

On 4 August 2022, the Parties to the Revitalized Peace Agreement agreed to extend the Transitional Period for 24 months. The Parties, led by the Council of Ministers, acted under article 8.4 of the Agreement which provides a three-stage procedure for amending the Agreement.

On July 29, 2022, the IMF Executive Board concluded the Article IV consultation with the Republic of South Sudan, and the Management extended the Staff-Monitored Program (SMP), which will allow the authorities to deliver on the remaining structural benchmarks.

Social media is teeming with mixed reactions to Egypt’s plan to dredge the Bahr el Ghazal River to reduce the flood risks in South Sudan. In addition to the mixed public reactions, South Sudanese officials continue to contradict one another in the media, signifying lack of consensus on the project...

The debate on constitution-making in South Sudan is gaining momentum with three proposals in the limelight. The first is the Sudd Institute’s proposal which calls for certain precursors to be addressed for there to be a smooth political transition through democratic elections.

On March 1st, 2022, the Sudd Institute – one of Africa’s top think-tanks based in Juba, South Sudan, published a Weekly Review entitled’ Democratic Elections in South Sudan. In that review, Dr Augustino T. Mayai, Prof Matthew LeRiche and William Underwood, a PhD student, raised emerging arguments against holding elections...

This week’s Review analyzes South Sudan’s readiness to conduct elections in under a year and reflects on why they are important. We start out with the discussion of the election’s fundamentals, then move to why elections are imperative in a post-conflict context.

Ever since the conflict between groups of Twic Mayardit and the Ngok Dinka of Abyei in the border town of Aneet broke out on February 10, 2022, there has been a flurry of reactions on both sides of the conflict, crisscrossing both at home and abroad.

In response to recent fighting along the border of the Abyei Special Administrative Area and Twic County, this Weekly Review calls for prompt preventive action by the leadership of South Sudan at the local, state, and national levels.

This Weekly Review analyzes this new policy by looking at factors that necessitated it, budgetary implications, and more broadly, policy implications for the public sector employees, as well as macroeconomic stability. We conclude the Review with policy recommendations that are targeted at the imperative of conducting public sector wage review...

This review is based on the author's presentation to the Roundtable convened by UNMISS in Juba on the 6-7 July 2021, to Commemorate the 10th Anniversary of South Sudan's independence. The remarks and views reflected in the review are the author's and not to be attributed to UNMISS or the...

This weekly review contributes to the debate on how the COVID-19 induced hysteresis effects could affect growth in South Sudan. It addresses two related questions: What channels would transmit the COVID-19 scarring effects to the output? What can public policy do to support recovery?

The High Court of Kenya recently handed down a decision that reinforces the role of courts to protect the constitution against executive overreaches. To constitutional lawyers and academics, the decision is a triumph for constitutionalism and the rule of law.

This Weekly Review applauds the power of human innovation and its success. It celebrates the strength of the American democratic institutions, which has enabled the American people to weather what was a substantial threat to a long-established institutional tradition of peaceful transfer of power.

In December 2020, the South Sudan National Dialogue Steering Committee (NDSC) published its concluding report regarding the National Dialogue (ND) process. Drawing from its consultations, conferences, and outputs produced since the process kicked off in 2017, this Final Report summarizes the Committee’s main findings and respective recommendations.

After nearly 4 years, the ND finally concluded on November 17, 2020, offering broadly appreciated recommendations on a range of state formation and national building matters in South Sudan. This Review, therefore, analyzes the ND by revisiting its merits and public reaction, assessing its achievements, and situating its recommendations in...

This review explores the magnitude of this year’s flood and its impacts in Bor Town. We used a boat to get us around the town surveying the extent of flood water and measuring its depth in the streets and in the residential neighborhoods.

South Sudan is experiencing a distressing economic period. Government revenue has shrunk to historic lows and debt, both domestic and external, is mounting, marked by unsettled salary arrears and outstanding loans. A combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout of just-concluded civil strife is largely to blame.

The current state of affairs in the country has been long in the making. Since April 2020, following a stalled formation of the Revitalized Government of National Unity (RTGoNU), there has been growing frustration in the country.

In this review, we analyze the recent decision by President Salva Kiir Mayardit to reinstitute the ten states system of governance in South Sudan. We focus our attention on reactions from the stakeholders of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the public, the region,...

In 2019, as in years past, the Sudd Institute was steadfast in observing, conducting research and analyzing South Sudan’s public policy environment, especially how the country’s political leadership has behaved with regards to war, violence, peace, security, reconciliation and the economy.

This year’s flood is one of the worst in South Sudan’s history. It has affected about one million people from 142,783 households in 8 of the former 10 states, compared to only 344,618 people in 2013. People lost homes, livelihoods, and shelter and got exposed to deadly diseases.

Members of the United Nations Security Council, under the co-chairmanship of South Africa and the United States, visited South Sudan last week on the 20thof October 2019. The visit came as the deadline for the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) looms. The Council came to...

In April 2019, Sudanese protestors in Khartoum, the capital and other major towns, managed to push their country’s longest reigning dictator, Omer Hassen al-Bashir, out of power after 30 years of a brutal dictatorship. The fall of al-Bashir was a cause for jubilation amongst crowds across the country, and true...

Recent political developments in the Sudan dominate street conversations and various social media outlets in Juba, South Sudan. The Sudanese revolutionary forces that brought an end to a 30-year rule of President Omar Al Bashir find a lot of sympathy and support among the ordinary South Sudanese citizens, who, at...

For the past several weeks, there have been rising voices of both optimism and frustration, as reports of progress in the implementation of the so-called Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) continued to highlight violations, fresh military attacks, delays in executing ceasefire and security mechanisms...

In the history of every society, there is always a generation that takes the lead to define and determine that society’s destiny. This could, for example, be (a) a generation that stands and lives up to the promise of greater good or common interest; (b) a generation driven by the...

In 2005, South Sudan adopted a minimum of 25 percent women representation quota in its interim constitution. Following the independence, this quota was maintained, with the Transitional Constitution devoting three clauses to this important policy. In 2013, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the governing party, proposed raising this quota...

Like the rest of the world, South Sudanese in Kenya were shocked when the Kenyan police started storming their residences, arresting and detaining many of them in police center in Nairobi, Nakuru, Lodwar, Eldoret, and Nyeri, among others.

This weekly review investigates what underpins the ongoing conflict in South Sudan, which is barely understood. The ongoing peace processes, namely IGAD led mediation efforts, National Dialogue and SPLM reunification efforts, may not bring a durable peace if the origin of the conflict is not well understood.

December 15, 2017, marked 4 years of a political turmoil in an independent South Sudan. This has culminated in the country’s widespread insecurity, an unmatched humanitarian tragedy, and a heightening economic distress. This misery deepens as a host of efforts to stamp the instability continues to falter, one after another.

The Sudd Institute in 2017

People who study the relationship between north and south of the old Sudan do recognize that the memories of the Sudanese state violence, racial and religious bigotry of many northern Sudanese leaders and the anti-north sentiments they have engendered in the south, all of which fueled the drive for the...

When the Sudd Institute was established in 2012, the people of South Sudan had just received the declaration of their new state with a mix of reactions. Independence was the culmination of the political evolution that had been long in the making and anticipated as the possible panacea for half...

South Sudan is economically and politically distressed. Weak institutions, mismanagement, and corruption have for years plagued the nascent Republic’s economy, bearing markedly on political processes and outcomes. Hilde Johnson (2016) and Christopher Clapham (2012) suggest such is often expected of liberators who have just become a government in a country...

For nearly a decade now, several armed groups have emerged all over the country, with some of them sometimes signing agreements with the government that last only a very short time. What normally follows, as historically evident, is a cycle of rebellions and sojourning political settlements, with rebel leaders shuttling...

Seven weeks since the Transitional government of National Unity was formed, however, international development assistance to South Sudan remains shut. The countries that sponsored South Sudan’s peace process have suggested that they have not really cut aid to South Sudan, but have simply channeled it toward humanitarian programs and away...

After many delays, Riek Machar, leader of the armed opposition, Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO), finally returned to Juba on April 26, 2016, bringing with him cautious happiness among the populace who had been desperately anticipating the return of peace since December 2013.

The South Sudan National Legislative Assembly (NLA) passed on February 2, 2016 for the second time the non-governmental organizations bill, along with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) bill. The lawmaking body first endorsed the NGO Bill on May 12, 2015, but it was returned to the Parliament for review...

South Sudan recently floated its currency against a dollar, invoking astronomical hikes in prices across the board. Owing to low local production, the world’s newest country imports just about anything, essentially lending little use for its currency in the international markets.

South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir Mayardit, on October 2nd, 2015, issued an executive order that increased the country’s current 10 states to 28 decentralized states. The new arrangement, to a certain degree, follows ethnic boundaries[1], methodically isolating those communities mainly in the Upper Nile region[2].

After months of fighting and on and off negotiations, the IGAD Plus finally set a deadline of August 17th, 2015 to end a conflict that has displaced over a million people and killed tens of thousands. The effort resulted in a partially signed deal.

It is now 20 months since the present civil war started in South Sudan. In search of appropriate interventions, several strides, concerted locally, regionally, and internationally, have thus far been undertaken. Unfortunately, not a single strategy has been able to produce convincing results for the warring parties to end the...

South Sudan currently experiences existential health threats as the war devastates a third of its territory, the Greater Upper Nile region. Morbidity and mortality related to both direct and indirect consequences of war have become increasingly commonplace, especially in the displaced encampments.

Since the recent war struck in South Sudan, there has been an increasing tendency by the South Sudanese ethnic communities to sever relations among themselves. In particular, members of the Dinka and Nuer ethnicities in the Diaspora quickly retreated back to their localities and started to avoid interacting with each...

The recent announcement of the reinstatement of former senior leaders of the ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), who were dismissed by its chairman in 2013 from the party ranks, came as yet another unsurprising and yet questionable action by a party that has been plagued for years...

Recently, a new bout of large-scale armed confrontations hit the states of Upper Nile and Unity, with new allies of the SPLA-In Opposition taking control of Malakal and its surrounding vicinities, equally threatening the nation’s only oil producing facilities in Paloch.

The recent leak of a draft report attributed to the African Union Commission of Inquiry for South Sudan (AUCISS) has coincided with the termination of the peace talks between the government and rebel forces under the auspices of the East African regional block, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD).

South Sudan broke apart and plunged into a violent confrontation in December 2013 following bitter disagreements within the top leadership of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), splintering the party into several groupings. The conflict shockingly started merely 2 years after the country seceded from the Sudan, in 2011.

On 25th August 2014, Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), a East African regional bloc that has since taken on an essential role of mediating the South Sudanese warring groups, the Government of South Sudan (GoSS) and Sudan’s People Liberation Army/Movement-In Opposition (SPLA/M-IO), set out a negotiating instrument for resolving South...

Restoring peace in South Sudan remains tenuous, as the rival groups, the rebels and government, are increasingly becoming less committed to a peaceful resolution of the violence. Attempts by regional and international bodies to stamp out South Sudan’s raging violence during the last year have proved futile.

South Sudan’s National Security Bill has been under parliamentary vetting in the last few weeks, and the law-making body has just passed it on October 6, 2014. The Bill now awaits the president’s endorsement into law.

When the Ministry of Labor, Public Service and Human Resource Development of the Republic of South Sudan, issued a ministerial circular on September 16th, 2014, announcing a new policy regarding the employment of foreign nationals, the order was greeted with applause by many unemployed nationals who had long criticized the...

The month of May 2014 had been an interesting period politically in South Sudan. During this period, the American Secretary of State, John Kerry and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, visited South Sudan to push the warring parties to seek a peaceful end to the violence that had...

South Sudan emerged as a state from over two decades of a violent conflict, fought between the Sudanese government and the southern rebels known as the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M). Between the interim period and independence (2005-2011), the region was governed under ‘federally’ decentralized structures, constituted in both the...

After a very difficult week for the Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA) in the battle fields of Unity State, losing control of Bentiu, Leer, and Mayom and battling the rebels in Renk and other fronts in Upper Nile and Jonglei states, President Kiir announced in a decree on Wednesday, April...

After several months in detention, the government of South Sudan has decided to stay the charges of treason that were brought against four prominent South Sudanese politicians in relation to the government’s allegation that they had been part of a plot to overthrow the government of President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

The conflict in South Sudan between the government of Salva Kiir and the opposition forces, led by former Vice President Riek Machar Teny, has undoubtedly escalated into a civil war. The two sides have so far failed to reach a negotiated settlement and have continued to cause death, destruction and...

Since South Sudan’s internal conflict struck roughly four months ago, concerned nations, organizations, and individuals scrambled for a remedial response. The pressure, particularly from the international community engineered by a number of Western and IGAD countries, mounted.

This response is prompted by a written critique of an article published by the Sudd Institute on March 11, 2014 regarding the proposed Joint Administration and UN Trusteeship. The Sudd Institute’s article critiques the proposal of a UN Trusteeship and Joint International Community South Sudanese administration as potential mechanisms to...

Since mid-December, 2013, when the conflict started in South Sudan, several international experts and analysts have come up with a flurry of ideas on how to end the violence and chart a way forward for the bleeding nation.

Following the violent events of December 15, 2013, the Government of South Sudan felt the need to request Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) member states to assist in quelling a rebellion that threatened to unseat an elected government.

On December 15th, 2013, gunfire erupted in the South Sudanese city of Juba. At the scene, several soldiers were instantly killed and numerous others injured. The next few hours were punctuated by spread of violence in the city, with authorities concluding the event as being an attempted coup.

Though South Sudanese have been expressing disappointment in the way their young state has been run ever since independence was declared in 2011, they have been more recently appalled by news that has bombarded them about government failures, fiscal misdeeds, unclear policies, uncertainties of what the future holds for them...

The move by the Bank of South Sudan to devaluate the South Sudanese Pound was met with stiff opposition from the cross-section of the public. The market reacted nervously to the decision. The National Legislative Assembly summoned the Governor of the Central Bank and demanded for an explanation.

As the month of October draws to a close, the future of the final status of the disputed region of Abyei remains disappointingly uncertain and extremely unpredictable. The unyielding stalemate between South Sudan and Sudan is a remarkable test that challenges not only the leadership and credibility of the African...

A useful experimental tool, the FSI is intended to warn the world community against ramifications of states’ fragility. Precisely and rightly so, the Index postulates that state failure anywhere might have some serious implications for most, if not all, nations, particularly as the globalized and technologically connected world system is...

The Sudd Institute analyzes the net gain from the visit of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to Khartoum, the driving factors behind the move to hold the Presidential Summit and the potential political backlash resulting from changing national political landscapes in South Sudan.

On July 23, 2013, President Salva Kiir Mayardit issued some of the most courageous political/administrative decrees of all time, relieving the nation’s longstanding vice president of his post, suspending the chief administrator, the Secretary General of the ruling party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), dissolving the executive branch of...

In a decree, issued on June 18, 2013, the President of the Republic, Salva Kiir Mayardit, in a rare move, lifted the immunity of two senior ministers in the government, Deng Alor and Kosti Manibe, to answer questions regarding their role in the an un-procedural transfer of nearly eight million dollars.

Justice Deng Biong has triggered an opportune and a healthy discourse on the relevance of regional conferences based on the colonial division of the South into three administrative provinces of Bahr el-Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper Nile.

The question of whether the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been unjust to African leaders, singularly going after them, and probably driven by racism, has been an ongoing debate for about a decade now. These accusations against the ICC have never been based on a claim that the indicted African...

The case of Lakes State's ban on both alcohol production and consumption is very corporeal and at the same time interesting, particularly, when one looks at its pros and cons. In the olden days of Khartoum regime, there were profound constrictions to alcohol production and consumption in the country, which...

It has been 7 years since the emergence of acrimonious internal relations within Tonj East County, particularly between Luackoth and Jalwau. Interestingly, the Dinka sections are from Anan Atak judicial constituency, which is apparently chaired by an Executive Chief, Gum Mading, from Jalwau.

The classic security dilemma that has faced the government of South Sudan for some time now has glaringly and more strongly demonstrated itself in recent years in Jonglei, the country’s largest and most populous state, and the most wrecked by violence.

Bashir’s visit was planned to happen immediately after the signing of the agreements last year as an attempt to normalize diplomatic and economic relations with South Sudan, but the grievous mistrust between the two countries saw the plan fell through.

The need to advocate for women’s agenda has been widely diffused and adopted in many nations and international bodies. A number of national constitutions, particularly in the developing societies, for example, apportion women’s representation quotas in the government, though an effective implementation in majority of the countries remains sorely strained.

Recently the government of Angola and UNESCO convened a conference, “Pan African Forum on the Sources and Resources for a Culture of Peace” in Luanda, Angola. This conference, which was attended by scholars, government officials, culture specialists from UNESCO, teachers and representatives of women and youth networks from across Africa,...

The Republic of South Sudan has made tremendous progress on several developmental fronts, including establishment of institutions of governance, reformation of the military, structuring of public service, taking great strides in education and health care, much of which was, admittedly, possible through foreign aid.

Weeks ago, the president of the Republic of South Sudan issued a decree forming a committee responsible for the truth and reconciliation exercise in the country. Some people in the country welcomed the move, though others say it took too long, but considered it a positive step to bringing understanding,...

After nineteen months of independence South Sudan is nowhere near resolving post independence issues with Sudan. The cooperation agreements signed between the two countries in September 2012 have not been implemented due to pre-conditions that were not part of the terms of the signed agreements that Khartoum says must be...

Gender equality, although a human rights issue, is often violated. Women’s rights are more than susceptible to abrogation in the developing countries. The leaders of these countries tend to unsuccessfully perceive the need to include women in decision making in order to attain a peaceful, just, and prosperous society.

In a recent presidential decree read on the state-owned South Sudan television, president Salva Kiir Mayar relieved a large number of army generals, on top of whom were all the six deputies of the Chief of General Staff and replaced them with newly promoted officers.

South Sudan is presently faced with serious economic adversities since it discontinued oil production earlier last year—a decision some analysts, both locally and internationally, considered haphazard. Since then public employees and government contractors have experienced salary cuts and delayed payments.

January 8, 2013

After a harrowing period of violence that was witnessed in Wau town between December 8 and 23rd, 2012, the fighting, which had pitted the Dinka and the Fertit, finally ended just before Christmas, to the relief of all.

Recently, between December 8th and 21st, Wau town, the capital city of Western Bahr el-Ghazal and South Sudan’s second most ethnically diverse state, witnessed tragic and shocking events of extreme violence between the Dinka and the Fertit.

Though having recently attained sovereignty, the Republic of South Sudan continues to be plagued by, among others, the problem of lawlessness that is deeply embedded in the country’s history of violence. This lawlessness is a major insecurity issue that results in loss of lives of innocent people in almost every...

Last week, the nation was rocked by the news of the cowardice and senseless murdering of a prominent South Sudanese political commentator and opinion writer, Isaiah Diing Abraham Chan Awuol, better known to his readership audience by his pen name as Isaiah Abraham, on Wednesday, 5 November 2012 at his...

This past week saw two significant events happening in Juba: The annual Governors’ Forum and the Agriculture Trade Fair. Although separately planned, the timing and the underpinning theme, “food security”, joined the two programs. Food security is an important matter that deserves attention at the highest national level and this...

Over the past week, the people of South Sudan have been reminded once again of the horrific wartime experiences when Sudan’s air force randomly and indiscriminately dropped bombs from a high altitude Russian-made Antonov onto villages and civilian facilities near the Sudan-South Sudan Border.

The circumstances of Sudanese refugees in the Yida camp appear to be extraordinarily dire, the UN agency reports. While the displaced Sudanese suffer humiliation, disease, starvation, poor living conditions, and death, their experience also presents serious neighborhood effects for South Sudan.

The recent re-election of Barack Obama for a second term as president was received in South Sudan with jubilation. Renewed hopes have been placed on the US as one of the strongest partners in development and governance in this young country. What does President Obama’s reelection mean for U.S.

This past week has seen a flurry of news in the local media, online discussions, and in many conversations among South Sudanese, all focusing on a select number of issues, including the continuing violence in Jonglei, the expulsion of United Nations human rights monitor from the country, and the increasing...