Situation Report: Looking East: The Politics Of Peacemaking In The Beja Region Of Sudan, Mariam Bibi Jooma

At the end of 2006, and even as the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur intensified once more, another area of instability came under the spotlight – much-neglected eastern Sudan. While the term “marginalised” has often been applied to southern Sudan and latterly Darfur, reflecting their alienation from the centre of national affairs, development and services, it is especially relevant in the case of the Beja region of eastern Sudan. This brings into question not only the effectiveness and viability of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement reached between Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the South as a means to address broader Sudanese issues, but the very mechanisms of Sudanese diplomacy and the ability to challenge rather than reinforce the principal ‘entrepreneurs of violence’.