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On January 9, 2014, Kate Almquist Knopf, Former USAID Assistant Administrator for Africa and then-adjunct professor (now director) at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on the volatile situation in South Sudan, assessing the current crisis and offering several recommendations both for short- and long-term gains.
Kate Almquist-Knopf, then-adjunct professor (now Director) of the Africa Center, provides an overview of South Sudan’s struggle to establish a government that enjoys popular legitimacy and is accountable to its citizens.
In the process of recovering from a ruinous civil conflict, Africa’s youngest country faces the threat of renewed conflict, localized ethnic-based insurgencies, a deepening humanitarian crisis, and weak governance structures. Underlying all of these challenges are a weak national identity and fragile state-society relations. Trust and confidence in the government can be generated through a concerted effort to build inclusive coalitions of state and nonstate actors, expand independent media, and construct a rules-based, accountable foundation for the new state.
The conflict between Sudan’s rival military factions is triggering massive population displacements that are stressing the region’s already fragile coping systems. More than 13.3 million Sudanese have been displaced.
South Africa’s layered oversight processes afford an institutionalized means of holding senior leaders accountable for allegations of misconduct—and offer insights for upholding the rule of law elsewhere.
Civilian leaders and democracy protesters remain skeptical of both sides of Sudan’s military rivalry, which civilians attribute to military actors attempting to hang onto power at all costs. The escalating tensions between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) reveal competing interests, chains of command, and organizational structures. An eruption of fighting between the two military camps could plunge the country into a civil war similar to what we have seen in South Sudan. Joseph Siegle talks to VOA's Nightline.
Proactive management of the transition to civilian rule would afford the Sudanese military more stability, budgetary support, and professional benefits.
An academic webinar series exploring the lessons learned of the roles of the security sector and national security strategy development during times of transition from military to civilian rule. The webinar series provided an opportunity to share evidence-based insights and experiences and their implications for Sudan during its challenging transition to a civilian-led, democratic government.
Sudan needs a national security strategy to guide the reforms of its security sector from a tool of repression to sustain the old regime to a professional force that protects citizens under a democratic system.
Despite voters’ repudiation of corrupt governance practices, the ANC remains divided in its commitment to reforms.
Transforming the protests into genuine democratic change in Sudan will require maintaining an organized reform coalition and reaching an understanding with military leaders.