Negotationg authority and statehood in Southern Sudan

After more than two decades of violent confl ict in Southern

Sudan between the Northern-based government of

Sudan1 and the Southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation

Army / Movement (SPLA / M)2, the two parties in confl ict

signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. The

Southern Sudanese will decide on independence in a 2011

referendum. During the current transition period, Sudan

follows a one-country, two-systems policy which grants

Southern Sudan wide-reaching autonomy, this area being

governed by the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS, dominated

by the SPLM). During the war between the North and

the South, some parts of Southern Sudan were under the

control of the Sudanese government army, while other areas

were controlled by Southern Sudanese rebel movements. The

former rebel organisation SPLA is now the army of Southern

Sudan and its political wing, the SPLM, is the most infl uential

political party in the South. In a fragile political context,

new executive, legislative and judiciary institutions

are in the process of being set up in Southern Sudan.

In post-confl ict settings, administrative structures

are not installed in empty spaces. Rather, a variety of

actors and strategic groups negotiate public authority,

statehood and access to resources (Hagmann and

Péclard 2010). This is the case in Southern Sudan: Different

layers of former government institutions, traditional

authorities, youth, women’s groups, political

parties, NGOs, returnees and kinship networks are all

engaged in current political dynamics. My research in

Southern Sudan aims at studying the ways various actors

are involved in the post-confl ict transformation process

in «local political arenas», which Bierschenk and Olivier

de Sardan (1997: 441) defi ne as «complex political confi gurations

» where a variety of actors negotiate authority

and statehood. In my dissertation project I look at the

resources and repertoires (Hagmann and Péclard 2010)

these actors apply in Aweil East county, Northern Bahr

el-Ghazal state, a region mainly inhabited by Dinka, the

major ethnic group in Southern Sudan. I copy pasted this summary from a publication in

Tsantsa 15-2010 in which I presented ideas linked to my PhD.