Situation Report: Dual realities: Peace and war in the Sudan - An update on the implementation of the CPA, Mariam Bibi Jooma

Global news headlines continue to report the political impasse and consequent loss of civilian life in Sudan’s western state of Darfur, but there is decidedly less attention on what is essentially a fragile peace between the former warring factions of Northern and Southern Sudan. Indeed, almost 30 months after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005 there is little confidence that any significant change will occur in what remains of the Interim Period. Certainly the precariousness of the CPA impacts, and will continue to impact, upon both the Darfur Peace Agreement and the Eastern Peace Agreement as it acts as a basic document upon which the legitimacy of the Government of National Unity and the Government of Southern Sudan are based. As the incoming Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon suggested in his opening report on Sudan in January this year,

Of central concern, the principles of the Agreement related to political inclusion and “making unity attractive” have yet to be fully upheld, and much remains to be done if the parties are to achieve their ambitious goals set out in the Machakos Protocol and in subsequent Protocols (UN 2007a).

This situation report highlights some of the most pressing challenges to the implementation of the CPA from the perspective of the political incumbents, international observers, and sectors of civil society including the Sudanese media. It is based on a large number of field interviews undertaken in March and April 2007 and on previously published research. The report also analyses the current positions of the principal political players – the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) – with a view to mapping possible scenarios in the run-up to the key 2008/9 national elections.