As Sudan’s Key Referendum Approaches, North-South Border Issues Loom

September 8, 2010

As Sudan prepares for a historic referendum in January 2011 on whether Southern Sudan will remain part of the country, a recent panel at the United States Institute of Peace found the country’s future unclear and complex.

Ongoing problems in Sudan include the ongoing crisis in Darfur, a fragile 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the decades-long North-South civil war, and incidents of local violence in the southern and central parts of the country, according to the panel. Furthermore, as the 2011 referendum approaches, potential problems along the border of northern and southern Sudanese states have not been resolved.

A panel convened by USIP on September 8 discussed recent findings of a USIP-commissioned report on Sudan’s North-South border issues. The report, compiled by Concordis International is informed by the European Union-funded Cross Border Relations Project. Panelists included Christopher Milner, of Concordis International; Benedetta de Alessi, from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Martin Pratt, from the International Boundaries Research Unit at Durham University; and USIP’s Andrew Blum as the panel moderator.

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Speakers

• Benedetta de Alessi

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

• Amir Idris

Fordham University

• Christopher Milner

Concordis International

• Martin Pratt

Durham University

• Andrew Blum, Moderator

United States Institute of Peace