File:PEACE AGREEMENTS AND CIVIL WARS- SOUTH SUDAN (IA peaceagreementsa1094563464).pdf

In 2005, after a two-decade war, South Sudan signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement that led to independence from the Republic of Sudan in 2011. However, in December 2013, the country sank into another civil war when troops loyal to President Salva Kiir clashed with those loyal to the dismissed vice president, Dr. Riek Machar. The reasons for the outbreak of the civil war include but are not limited to a weak and divided governing party (the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement or SPLM), an unprofessional military force (the Sudan People’s Liberation Army or SPLA), a fragile economy, and ethnic divisions. The civil war continues despite the intervention and mediation of the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) as well as the international community. Earlier negotiations led to a pair of accords: 1) the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan 2015 (ARCSS 2015) and 2) the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan 2018 (R-ARCSS 2018). This thesis examines the role of the political and security elite in the failure of the two agreements. It argues that the political and security elite exploited the weakness in both agreements—such as failure to include all stakeholders—and undermined implementation of the disarmament and demobilization of rival militias. Moreover, the intervention of the regional powers, including Sudan and Uganda, exacerbated competing interests of instrumental elites.

Subjects: South Sudan; peace agreements; civil war; conflict; warring factions; Agreement on Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan; ARCSS; Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan; RARCSS