Sudan: Eighteen months after the CPA

The document examines the state of Sudan's transition following the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). While noting security gains such as the establishment of UNMIS and the Joint Defence Board, it highlights severe risks to the peace process. Central to these is the unresolved demarcation of the Abyei boundary, which is viewed as a potential 'flashpoint' for renewed war due to oil interests and tribal tensions between the Ngok Dinka and Misseriya. The report also notes that the death of Dr. John Garang weakened the 'New Sudan' vision of pluralism, leaving the SPLM more inclined toward secession and the NCP increasingly dominated by security and petroleum elites. Further instability is noted in Darfur and the Eastern Beja region, where marginalized groups feel excluded by the NCP-SPLM power-sharing arrangement.

• The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is viewed by some as a narrow power-sharing deal that benefits the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) while excluding other marginalized regions and opposition parties like the Ummah party and the Democratic Unionist Party.
• The death of Dr. John Garang significantly hindered the 'New Sudan' project, which aimed for a pluralistic national identity beyond Arab/African or Muslim/non-Muslim divides, and increased the likelihood of Southern secession by 2011.
• The demarcation of the Abyei boundary remains a critical failure of the CPA implementation; the findings of the Abyei Boundary Commission (ABC) were rejected by the Presidency and the Misseriya, leaving the region in a state of ceasefire rather than peace.
• The Abyei region is a strategic point of contention due to its oil wealth and the competing land and pasture rights of the Ngok Dinka and the Misseriya Arabs.
• The NCP's internal structure has shifted away from its original Islamist ideological foundations toward a leadership dominated by the security and petroleum sectors, particularly in response to the Darfur crisis.
• Despite overall fragility, the SPLM identifies several security-related gains in the CPA implementation, including the establishment of the UN Peace Support Mission (UNMIS), the Joint Defence Board (JDB), and the redeployment of forces.
• Post-CPA Khartoum has seen an increase in freedom of expression and the emergence of new media, though the state broadcaster remains unrepresentative of the country's diversity.

APA

Jooma, M. B. (2006). Sudan: Eighteen months after the CPA. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/200607SUDANSITREP.PDF

Chicago

Jooma, Mariam Bibi. Sudan: Eighteen months after the CPA. Institute for Security Studies, 2006. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/200607SUDANSITREP.PDF.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Jooma |first1=Mariam Bibi |title=Sudan: Eighteen months after the CPA |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=17 July 2006 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/200607SUDANSITREP.PDF |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{jooma2006sudan, author = {Jooma, Mariam Bibi}, title = {{Sudan: Eighteen months after the CPA}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2006}, month = jul, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/200607SUDANSITREP.PDF}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }