The Fate of Sudan: The Origins and Consequences of a Flawed Peace Process

In 2005, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ended one of Africa's most devastating civil wars and set the stage for the partition of Sudan, Africa's largest country. One of the most important peace agreements in African history, it has had decisive consequences for the entire Horn of Africa. Yet to date there has been little rigorous analysis as to why the parties signed the CPA, what strategies they adopted having signed the agreement, and the political consequences of state partition actually are. In The Fate of Sudan, John Young argues forcefully that the birth of the independent state of Southern Sudan and the threat of further dismemberment of a rump northern Sudan are due to the failure of the approaches and ideologies of the main Sudanese parties, as well as a deeply flawed US-backed peace process that excludes civil society and rebel groups. Written by an insider directly involved in the Sudanese election and referendum processes, and featuring a wealth of first-hand evidence, this is a crucial examination of a topic of intense political and media interest.

John first went to Sudan in 1986 and worked for the following three years as a journalist at The Sudan Times. He returned home to Vancouver and began a PhD in Political Science at Simon Fraser University where he still retains academic affiliations. He then became a professor at Addis Ababa University where he completed Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia (CUP, 1997) as part of an engagement with revolutionary movements in the Horn of Africa. He then went on to hold a number of positions in Sudan - peace analyst for CIDA, resource person for the IGAD peace process on Sudan, research director for IRIN, a UN news agency, a peace monitor for the Civilian Protection Monitoring Team, researcher for the Small Arms Survey, and political advisor to The Carter Center on the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. John has also published extensively on peace and security issues in Sudan.