Sudanese futures: one country or many?

Abstract

Conflict-prone Sudan is at a decisive cross-roads in its history as the multiple crises gripping the country force on the actors some stark choices. As the world focuses on the spiralling Darfur crisis and offers the wrong prescriptions for its resolution, the optimistically named Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the war in the south threatens to unravel under the weight of the diverging agendas of the main peace partners. Unless some radical steps are taken to restructure the Sudanese state and address the real causes of conflict in Darfur and elsewhere, the country could fragment and disintegrate, with disastrous consequences for regional peace and security.