Sudan’s Peaceful Partition, at Risk
Sudan, for now the vastest country in Africa, is once again on the verge of civil war. A 2005 peace agreement, brokered with American assistance, was supposed to resolve the issues that led to 22 years of fighting between the Arab-dominated North and secessionists in the South. But it has not.
In a January referendum, the South Sudanese overwhelmingly voted for independence. But the North’s occupation of the contested border region of Abyei this month could reignite the conflict between North and South — unless foreign powers, especially China, use their leverage to stop it.
The international community — particularly the United Nations and the United States — have been spectacularly ineffective in getting the Sudanese government to honor its own agreements.… Seguir leyendo »