Government of Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit registers to vote November 15 in Juba. Photo by Michael Eddy/USAID. Creative commons licensed on Flickr.
Jeff Millington, a former State Department official, has written for The Enough Project (a Washington-based advocacy organization) a study titled “Lessons from the Past: Reflections on U.S. Efforts to Bring Peace to Sudan” (PDF).
More optimistic than many observers, Millington argues that if there are successful referenda on the future of Southern Sudan and Abyei, the tendency will be for everyone to claim victory and then focus on something else. This would be unfortunate as the Government of Southern Sudan, assuming a vote for independence, would face staggering challenges requiring international attention. Nor does a resolution of the North-South problem deal with the continuing tragedy of Darfur. He says the United States must be prepared to stay the course and not divert its attention.
Richard Downie and Brian Kennedy are the authors of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, report titled “Sudanese Perspectives on the 2010 Referendum” (PDF).
Based on travel to Khartoum and Juba in October 2010, the authors focus on the upcoming referenda and assess how preparations are proceeding ahead of the polls. They also assess the post-referendum challenges, potential outcomes and implications for U.S. policy. They conclude that the United States is trying to impact multiple potential crises in Sudan with limited resources.
