Negotiating the North/South conflict: Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement

The paper discusses the history of Sudan’s civil war and the negotiations that led to the development of Sudan’s CPA

Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005, signified the end of the North/South civil war and the beginning of peace in a country ravaged by war. The principles and the interests articulated in the CPA set the precedent for the negotiations. Revisiting the CPA and understanding the foundations for peace is necessary so that the parties are able to move forward with post-conflict reconstruction. The paper discusses the history of Sudan’s civil war and the negotiations that led to the development of Sudan’s CPA. It has been modified and updated from an original paper written for Professor William Monning at the Monterey Institute of International Studies Seminar Analysis in International Negotiations. The structure of the paper is based on the conflict resolution model outlined in Fisher and Ury 1991.

About the author

Leslie Anne Schafer is a graduate student at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, in California. She is pursuing a Master of Arts in international policy studies with a specialisation in international negotiations and conflict resolution. She is currently conducting research with the Arms Management Programme at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.