May 16-18, 2008
hosted at:
Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida

Call for Papers
Theme: "Sudan's Wars and Peace Agreements"

REGISTRATION FORM

ACCOMODATION

Conference Program

ABSTRACTS

Presenter: Nahid Abunama-Elgadi

Affiliation: Sudanese-American Young Adult Project, Temple University

Presentation Title: Teaching Islam for Sudanese-American Students: A Human Rights-Integrated Curriculum [Presentation Two]

Abstract:

            This paper is a continuation of the same presentation/abstract which will first be addressed by Mohamed Ibrahim (please see abstract below).

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Presenter: Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf

Affiliation: Qatar University and Sir William Luce Fellow, Durham University

Presentation Title: Initiating Inclusive Security, Waging Peace: Darfurian Politics and Culture in the Eyes of its Women

Abstract:

            For the past few years, Sudanese women hailing from the besieged region of Darfur, have been diligently working to ameliorate the pervasive victimization and suffering in their home communities. Efforts inside and outside of Sudan have been systematic in drawing attention to the worsening conditions in the region. This paper will link the two types of these activist networks elucidating some similarities and differences that set diaspora politics apart from other Sudanese activism in Darfur. Of particular interest are the numerous events that were organized in places ranging from the U.S. Congress, the National Security Council, the U.S. Department of State, the World Bank, and the United Nations among numerous organizations that shape foreign policy vis-a-vis this beleaguered region. Analysis of the significances of Darfurian female activist networks in these locations will be addressed. Their input in peace talks will be highlighted specifically with respect to three fundamental areas: first, post-conflict reconstruction, second enabling the return of internally-displaced persons and finally, mobilization and inclusion of women as key players in any future peace negotiations.

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Presenter: Mey Eltayeb Ahmed

Affiliation: University of Khartoum

Presentation Title: The Peace Agreement Does Not Guarantee Sustainable Peace in Sudan"

Abstract:

            This paper aims to explore the challenges faced by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and tries to answer an important question: does this agreement guarantee a sustainable peace in Sudan? The prolonged civil war in the south, the Nuba Mountains, the Blue Nile and Eastern Sudan have been quelled by different peace agreements, however, the ongoing conflict in Darfur reflects the incompatibility in interests, needs and perceptions between the different antagonized groups. This presentation investigates these different peace agreements signed since the 1970s with a special focus on the Sudanese experience with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) the, Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA) and the ongoing peace negotiations in Darfur (DPA).

            The paper argues that first, to understand the causes of the conflict and its escalations one must second learn the lessons from the failed Addis Ababa Peace Agreement of 1972. The ways to accommodate the disputed groups' interests and to and develop an appropriate conflict management system is to change the negative interaction between the national and traditional management system. The CPA however, reflects several weaknesses and challenges, especially conflict resolution and conflict transformation approaches. The latter have different mechanisms which should be considered. Ultimately, building sustainable peace and development requires participation of all stakeholders, transparency, and joint goals to carry over the bumps of the peace road of the future. Ultimately I will offer crucial conclusions and recommendations which will shed light on important steps for sustainable conflict management and development in Sudan.

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Presenter: Mom Kou Nhial Arou

Affiliation: University of Khartoum

Title of Presentation: The Comprehensive PeaceAgreement and the Future of the Sudan

Abstract:

       The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Sudan Government signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Nairobi in 2005. This Agreement ended the civil war and granted to the South Sudan an autonomous system of government with a legislative assembly as well as a separate army. The South Will Vote in a referendum in 2011 to determine the future of the Sudan; whether it will remain united or separated into two States -- South and North.

      This paper will attempt to speculate on the future of the Sudan in light of this referendum. The paper will refer to the CPA, the Constitution, and the documents related to the problems of implementation.

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Presenter: Naseem Badiey

Affiliation: University of Oxford

Presentation Title: The Local Politics of Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Land, Urban Development, and State-Building in Juba (2005-2007)

Abstract:

            The post-conflict reconstruction process in Southern Sudan has encountered various challenges since the signing of the CPA, including the slow implementation of the CPA protocols, continued fighting and insecurity in various areas, slow dispersal of funds through the World Bank Multi-donor Trust Fund, and pervasive lack of capacity in the new institutions of the GoSS. Another important, though often overlooked challenge has been delays in urban development in Juba resulting from local resistance to land allocation and IDP resettlement in the new capital.

            This essay examines the role of local politics and societal organizations in the process of post-conflict reconstruction by examining ongoing disputes between the GoSS and the Government of Central Equatoria State in the first two years of the interim period. I argue that these disputes indicate underlying problems with the state-building process in Southern Sudan. An understanding of how local communities view and interact with the post-conflict state is an essential aspect of the study of post-conflict reconstruction; it is as critical to a successful transition as are the national and international dynamics of post-conflict politics.

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Presenter: Malik Balla

Affiliation: Michigan State University

Presentation Title: The Prospect of the Participation of Sudanese in the Diaspora in the Election in Sudan

Abstract:

            The upcoming election in Sudan, as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) is approaching. This election is expected to be a decisive moment in Sudan's history of the issue of which elected official will oversee the country as well as the South Sudan decision on self-determination. As the election approaches Sudan's demography has witnessed its greatest historical shift because of internal displacement and massive immigration due to the Islamist military coup of 1989 and its imposition of an ideology widely rejected by many Sudanese people.

            The previous attempt to involve Sudanese living abroad in an election was limited only to graduates who worked in the Gulf area or those studying overseas. Few communities were involved during military regimes, largely because people within Sudan were either not interested or a little apprehensive.

            Currently the situation is very different because the Sudanese communities in the diaspora now represent all walks of life. Even though many have received formal higher education, many others have never been exposed to any kind of formal education and are still illiterate.

            This paper intends to examine whether the Sudanese in the diaspora are going to participate in this election or not. If they are to participate, through which measures can they secure their participation? How are these would-be voters going to register; are they going to register as one constituency or in their respective places of birth? What modes of participation will be followed? Will it be through direct ballot in one center or by the internet. Will absentee voters mail in their votes as absentee voters? Who will be eligible to vote? What kind of documentation will be needed? What, ultimately, will be the cost of this process and who will pay?

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Presenter: Carol Berger

Affiliation: University of Oxford

Presentation Title: "Bringing God to the Trenches: The SPLA's Evolving Relationship

with the Church."

Abstract:

       In the early years of the civil war, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) had an often conflicted relationship with the church. Then allied with the Socialist East bloc, the guerrilla army downplayed religious faith. There were also confrontations between the SPLA and senior religious figures over the SPLA's mistreatment of southern Sudanese civilians and allegations of corruption and brutality within its own ranks. In the latter years of the war, however, some SPLA veterans worked to "bring God to the trenches." Three years after the signing of the CPA, the SPLA has moved closer to the region's Christian establishment, in part to strengthen its support among the disparate peoples of southern Sudan. In my paper, I will discuss the changing relationship of the SPLA and the church, focusing on the ways in which the SPLA has alternatively sought to subordinate religious forces and to receive sanction from the church.

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Presenter: Stephanie Beswick

Affiliation: Ball State University

Presentation Title: South Sudanese Violence and Resistance in the 19th-Century Slave Trading Era

Abstract:

            This presentation forms part of a larger monograph concerning slavery, slave raids and South Sudanese resistance during the nineteenth-century slave raiding/trading era. In past presentations I have covered intra-South Sudanese slaving systems during the pre-colonial era among the Shilluk, Dinka, Azande and Bari. This paper will cover the era of intra-Southern wars and resistance to external slave raiders during the nineteenth-century Turco-Egyptian colonial period. Much of this research is based on oral histories collected during field research in South Sudan (1996-7) and Kenya during the time of the recent civil war as well as field research in 2006 in Juba, Rumbek and Malakal.

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Presenter: Megan Borsuk

Affiliation: California Institute of Integral Studies

Presentation Title: Sudan: Violence in Response to Structural Violence

Abstract:

            I wish to discuss the impact of colonialism on Sudan's violent history and its residual effects in the present. Violence in Sudan should not be reduced to culture, ecology, politics, religion, or ethnicity. We must deconstruct the structures that (re)produce and hold in place violence. The British-Egyptian colonial regimes fractured Sudan into geo-political borders which have caused uneven and unjust development throughout Sudan. The constructed borders helped build a powerful class of Northern Sudanese. The dominant class reproduced a government modeled after the colonial nation-state to gain independence. The underlying foundations to the colonial nation-state are a will to conform and control the masses. Sudan's independent government inherited these critical aspects of governance. As a result, Sudan's history is fraught with violence and resistance. I will draw from the discourses of Michel Foucault and Edward Said to analyze the fundamental ideologies of the dominant modern nation-state. I will use these thinkers to analyze how the modern state produces and interacts with state-subjects. How does the reproduction of the modern nation-state in Sudan produce subjects who are alienated and exploited? Is the violence a response to the structural alienation and exploitation implemented through the modern nation-state?

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Presenter: Derek Catsam

Affiliation: University of Texas at the Permian Basin, Odessa

Presentation Title: "Never Again," Again: Sudan and the Darfur Crisis, A Review Essay

Abstract:

            The pattern is relentless, bleak, frustrating, and odiously predictable. The leadership of Sudan and its murderous minions are brazen and cynical. The rest of the world is feckless. Sudan oversteps, the world criticizes, hints of ramifications to come. Sudan backs off just long enough for the goldfish-length attention span of the western powers to turn their attentions elsewhere. And the Sudan returns almost immediately to its cruel and rapacious ways. This essay will utilize as its foundation a series of recent books on the Darfur crisis by a range of authors, including Gerard Prunier, M. W. Daly, Brian Steidle and Gretchen Stiedle Wallace, Eric Reeves, Alex de Waal and Julie Flint and others to assess the history, current situation, and possible future of Darfur.  I am not an historian of Darfur. My work is on race and politics in the United State and South Africa and I teach modern Africa, but as someone who writes about contemporary African affairs I have taken an interest in the Sudan and have been asked to write this essay for Democritiya, a British politics journal. I would like to utilize the Sudan Studies Association meeting to present my ideas, which are geared toward an educated lay audience, to specialists.

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Presenter: Sacha Chambers

Affiliation: Nova Southeastern University

Presentation Title: “The Impact of Women on the Peace Negotiations in Sudan”

Abstract:

In modern times, we have increasingly witnessed the importance of women at the peace table.   Women are often more predisposed to be natural peace advocates and envoys.  Their awareness of such qualities serves as passion enablers for other women to emulate on the road to peace.   The passion is no different for the women in Sudan.

The innovative UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace and Security,” mandated that women participate in the peace process.  Despite the mandate, Sudanese women have been consistently sidelined in the peace process in their country.  However, they have still made their mark.

            Sudanese women have endured many years of violations of their human rights and they continue to do so.  Nevertheless, their participation in the peace-building in Sudan is critical for the future of the country.  The Darfur Peace Agreement, which was signed on May 5, 2006, did not achieve peace and in certain respects it actually heightened the conflict. While Sudanese women played hardly any role in the peace negotiations process of the Darfur Peace Agreement, their contributions to peace building in Sudan is paramount.

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Presenter: Ayok Chol

Affiliation: Justice, Barrister & Solicitor, Juba, Southern Sudan

Presentation Title: Implementing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement Pacta Sunt Servanda

Abstract:

            The conflict in the Sudan is not only a protracted one lasting over one thousand years, it is seen by scholars as the most vicious in terms of human and resources destruction. The last organization to resist was the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army/Movement. This group concluded a peace agreement referred to as supra with the Islamic fundamentalist forces who called themselves the National Congress Party (NCP). This agreement was facilitated by various groups including the United Nations Security Council. It is therefore to be assumed that the parties to the agreement will implement it pacta sunt servanda. The paper will seek to provide a balance-sheet on how the two parties and other parties are implementing this agreement. Has the SPLA followed the terms of their agreement? Was it right for the SPLA to withdraw its participation in the government? Did the NCP abide by their obligations? Is the NCP willing to concede sovereignty to Southern Sudan? Did third parties who promised to assist the South fulfill their promises? What will the NCP do if the South votes for independence? The author knows that over ninety percent of Southern Sudan will vote for independence and will offer suggestions as to what actions Southerners should take to ensure a peaceful post-referendum period. The key to actions that need to be taken now include a concerted effort to unite Southerners and for them to develop good intra-southern relations. Asset transfers between the north and the south need to be addressed. Northerners and Southerners who wish to take on the nationality of where they are currently settled should be guaranteed their fundamental freedoms.

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Presenter: Carla Nichelle Daughtry

Presentation Title: The Idea of a “New Sudan” Among a New Sudanese Diaspora: A Proposal for Research Among Sudanese Immigrants in the Midwestern United States

Affiliation: Lawrence University

Abstract:

In the wake of the fragile peace accords established since the summer of 2004, many Sudanese opt not to or are unable to repatriate to Sudan and have continued to live in what were asylum countries (such as Egypt) or third-country resettlement locations (such as Canada, the United States, or Australia).   This is in part because, lacking economic resources and political power, they find they will need much more than “offical peace” in order to return and rebuild a New Sudan.   There are also contestations over just what is the New Sudan in cultural, economic, political and ethnic terms.  This presentation proposes interview-based research that explores Sudanese refugee and immigrant perspectives on challenges facing the “New Sudan,” and their own transnational and diasporic identity vis a vis their Sudanese homeland. The presentation will feature one ethnographic interview in which these issues emerge and inspire further cultural anthropology research.

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Presenter: Scott Edwards

Presentation Title: The Double-Edge of Advocacy: Effects of Human Rights NGOs on the Prospects for Peace in Darfur

Affiliation: Amnesty International

Abstract:

            What effect has the human rights advocacy campaigns related to Darfur had on the ground? On the one hand, activity by groups such as the "Save Darfur Coalition" and other more generally focused NGOs has brought immense attention to the human tragedy in Darfur. This activity--while driven by laudable principles and convictions--may have complicated the political landscape by entrenching armed opposition group leaders and creating the false impression that the international community was soon to intervene. In this paper, the author explores the various advocacy strategies of human rights NGOs working on Darfur, and details the positive outcomes of those strategies, as well as the pernicious unintended consequences. The conclusions about the role of such NGOs with regard to Darfur offer important considerations for NGO advocacy work in general, and future work on Darfur in particular.

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Presenter: Mousa M. Elbasha

Affiliation: Puebla, Mexico

Presentation Title: The Root Causes of the Sudanese Problem

Abstract:

            Nation building in pluralistic societies includes equitable sharing of power and wealth, broad-based stimulation of economic and social development, promotion and utilization of democratic practices, establishment of a national identity and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sudan faced these challenges in 1956 and still confronts them today.

            Sudan is comprised of many different tribal communities with no effective integration. Tribal affiliation and regionalism prevail over any nascent consciousness of Sudanese national identity. Inevitably, regional political groups have arisen espousing secession to achieve their political goals while trashing the entire concept of national unity.

            To resolve Sudan's core problems, the majority of Sudanese must develop an appreciation of national unity and a feeling of national identity. Open dialogue bridging regional and tribal boundaries is essential to mutual understanding and trust but will not suffice to bring lasting peace and prosperity. All those in positions of political, military or religious authority must work to heal the wounds of this torn and divided country cooperatively building upon its natural and human resources to forge a strong and united nation, democratic in principle and practice, wherein all Sudanese enjoy equal and unrestricted access to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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Presenter: Ahmed E. Elbashir

Affiliation: Head of Department of Europe, the Americas and International Organizations, Council for International People’s Friendship (CIPF)

Presentation Title: The Impact of Foreign Military and Civilian Presence on the Peace Process in Sudan

 
Abstact:

          The Sudanese are divided over the impact of the heavy international presence in the Sudan related to the implementation of the peace agreements and the culture of peace.  They are equally concerned about the presence of large numbers of refugees and undocumented persons from neighboring countries  My paper deals with this highly sensitive and complicated subject.  Most of the material comes from the workshop organized on March 24-26, 2008 by the National Assembly with heavy presence of the Assembly's diversified membership.  The Conference has been widely covered by both Arabic and English newspapers.  I intend to conduct interviews with politicians and academics.

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Presenter: Abubakr Elnoor

Affiliation: Nova Southeastern University

Presentation Title: Crimes Against Humanity, Rebel Divisions and Genocide in Darfur

Abstract:

      Lord Cromer said,” On no account had a greater amount of ingenuity to be exercised in effecting an apparent reconciliation by a pardonable fiction between the facts as they existed and the facts as they were supposed to exist”(Khalid 2003:3). 

      Darfur is a geopolitical frontier and the largest state in Sudan. In the early years of the twenty –first century, Darfur has suffered from famine, pestilence, death, and war. Throughout history Darfur was very rich of hospitalization, unity, solidarity, and peace; it had never been a problem of coexistence between Arab and non –Arab before 1983, when prime minister Al –Saddig Al –Mahddi came to power through an impartial election(Iyob & Khadiagagla 2006:133). Darfurians, historically, used to live together, sharing all resources regardless of race, occupation, or any other factors. But after 1983, things have changed, and animosity between tribes has reached horrible levels.

     Prime minister Al –Saddiq Al –Mahddi in 1983 formed the so –called “Arab Gathering” to relocate all wandering nomads of Darfur on Fur and other domestic tribes’ land. Also, he ensured the Darfurians’ loyalty by deceiving and repressing them with his arms such as Janjaweed. The assimilation in Sudan of Arab –Islamic culture was the signal achievement of the two great African kingdoms of Fur and Funj which had been fighting for their existence until the late twentieth century.

     Today, Darfur is lying under several crises due to a systematic marginalization exercised by the central government of Sudan and its allies. According to United Nations and other international organizations, 300,000 people have been killed since 2003 when Darfurian rebels confronted with Khartoum. Approximately 2.5 million people either displaced or sought a refuge in the neighboring countries such as Chad. Hundreds of thousands of women have been raped during this short period of time which indicates the atrocity of the central government towards its civilians. Rape is a new weapon used excessively in Darfur by the central government to change Darfur’s demography.

     This paper will examine and address how the Sudanese government is responsible for all crimes against humanity which have been committed in Darfur, and its refusal to cooperate with humanitarian organizations. Additionally, we will talk about the Janjaweed? Where does the militia come from? Also, the paper examines how the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) caused the situation in Darfur to scramble.

    We will also touch upon how the Darfurian rebel divisions attributed to the Darfurians’ endurance and strengthened Khartoum. Why did the United Nations turn a blind eye towards the atrocity in Darfur after a five –year period good outstanding?

     Finally, the paper will compare the genocide in Rwanda, with the genocide in Darfur, and how the United States refused to consider what happened in Rwanda as genocide but considered Darfur’s atrocity as genocide. And to what extent are terminologies and definitions important to motivate countries or international organizations to act according to their moral and legal responsibilities?

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Presenter: Maisha Elonai

Affiliation: University of Pennsylvania

Presentation Title: Traditional Notions of Communal Property Versus Ownership Rights in Southern Sudanese Cities

Abstract:

            Traditional notions of communal property, rapidly expanding populations resulting from resettlement, and underdeveloped waste and infrastructure management have complicated land use and ownership rights in southern Sudanese cities. As the South seeks to stabilize itself, especially in preparation for the coming referendum, the government would be wise to consider legislation that will foster a comprehensive land management system -- for health, economic and social reasons, as well as basic responsibility to its people.

            Certain fundamental elements of property regulation in the United States, such as title registration, zoning, eminent domain, and exactions could potentially be adapted to resolve land conflicts and health hazards in Sudan. This paper will rely on reports such as the Sudan Post-Conflict Environmental Assessment, recently released by the United Nations Environmental Programme, in order to compare property management in the United States and Sudan, and to describe how new legislation might be implemented to benefit capacity building in the South.

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Presenter: Elsadig Elsheikh

Affiliation: School for International Training, Brattleboro, VT

Presentation Title: The 3Rs and the CPA in Sudan

Abstract:

            For a number of years Sudan has been a scene of violent clashes and political unrest. Although today's conflict in Darfur is considered one of the worst humanitarian crises, this conflict, however, cannot be understood without careful examination of the previous civil wars. This paper examines the implications of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was signed in 2005 between the government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). In addition, I will specifically focus on the process of Reconciliation, Reconstruction, and Resolution (3Rs) of the CPA and its negative implications in the ongoing conflict of the Darfur region. The CPA lacks the understanding of the real causes of the violence in Darfur which is an extension of the policy of marginalization by the center toward its peripheries. This paper argues that the conflict is not an isolated phenomenon but one deeply rooted in the political economy of the hegemonic nature of the State and its unequal regional development policies in the last fifty years. The latter have greatly contributed to the use of violence as the sole means of solving such issues as development, identity, and representation in Sudan. This paper also offers modest recommendations for the crisis of Darfur and Sudan as a whole in restoring lasting peace.

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Presenter: Randall Fegley

Affiliation: Penn State University, Reading

Presentation Title: Re-division Reconsidered

Abstract:

            Sudan's sub-national boundaries have seen many changes over the past century. With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, much attention has been given to the fixing of borders, i.e. the South, Abyei, etc. More than ever, this is a time for reflection on the historical, cultural and political dynamics of past systems. This paper introduces the numerous geographical configurations that various regimes have developed during the Condominium era and since independence. This paper particularly concentrates on the 1980/81 regional and local reforms and the proposed 1983 re-division of the South. The "federal" states created by the Beshir regime and the sub-divisions of the South are examined to provide a context within which an analysis of existing and alternative borders can be pursued beyond the politically-charged discussions of the past.

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Presenter: Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban

Affiliation: Rhode Island College

Presentation Title: Shari'a and Islamism: Has Sudan Entered a Post-Islamist Era?

PANEL TITLE: The Fate of the Relationship Between Religion and Politics After the Signing of the CPA

Abstract:

            Sudan was the only African state to apply Shari'a comprehensively as a national law and it is well-known to have precipitated its second period of civil war after 1983. The historical Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) officially withdrew Shari'a as state law in Sudan and a "one country--two systems" -- Shari'a in the north and secularism in the south--was adopted. The disengagement of Islamism from the Sudanese state, albeit under intense internal and external pressures, raises the question of whether or not Sudan has entered a post-Islamist phase. Jallab, The First Islamist Republic (2008) in English and Ibrahim Suqqot al-Nashrua al-Hadari ("Collapse of the Civilization Project") (2003) in Arabic, have described, respectively, the "disintegration of Islamism" and have pronounced the demise of Islamism.

            Shari'a was the primary instrument of the rise of Sudan's Islamism and it should be a key barometer of its withdrawal, disintegration, or revival. Officially withdrawn from South Sudan and from non-Muslims in the capital, a case for Sudan entering a post-Islamist phase could be made. However, neither the "final status" of Shari'a nor a clear direction for national unity are certain three years after the CPA. Slow and inadequate implementation of the CPA, as well as the unresolved Darfur insurgency, make the prospect for political transformation promised by the CPA doubtful.

            Post-Islamism as an idea originated in France amid debates analyzing the past 35 years of global Islamist activism. Critical study of Sudan's Islamism is a vital part of the analysis of the future of the country, as a "new" Sudan, or two--or more--polities. One indicator of post-Islamism is the evolution toward an institutionalized Islamic state, rather than a state-imposed Islamist agenda by militarists, such as in Sudan. Assessment of the structural and institutional success of the Islamist program will be discussed in regard to Shari'a and new legal institutions developed since 2005.

            Under the auspices of a two year grant from the U.S. Institute of Peace I have researched the changing status and application of Shari'a in the "interim period," prior to scheduled national elections mandated by the CPA and to the national referendum on unity or separation of the south. Impulses toward more democratic public discourse are notable after the CPA, but nonetheless are blunted by the state security apparatus. This paper reviews the process of withdrawal of Shari'a--as well as resistance to this and the development of parallel legal institutions by the Government of South Sudan. The paper invites discussion and debate of the post-CPA period as "post-Islamist," or as a new, perhaps, more mature stage of Sudan's continuing Islamism, now in its 25th year.

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Presenter: Maria Gabrielsen

Affiliation: Paris, Sciences Po-CERI

Presentation Title: Internationalization of the Conflicts in Sudan: A Resource or a Constraint for Making Peace?

Abstract:

            How can we explain that some initiatives of internationalizing internal conflicts lead to the signing of sustainable peace agreements, while others only generate negative impacts on the conflict and even contribute to worsening them? The conflict in Southern Sudan went through a long term low-level internationalization, with international NGO's and foreign diplomats involved over many years. Yet it did not create sufficient momentum to gather the parties around a common peace agreement. Once a small group of capable and willing states became involved, however, and decided to support the regional organization of IGAD in their peace initiatives, an agreement was soon on the table. In Darfur, however, calls for the international community to react and intervene to solve the conflict have been incessant over the past few years. A large and relatively efficient humanitarian operation has been set up. On the political level, however, the international efforts to set up peace talks seem to have created more internal dissent and fragmentation than reconciliation and progress towards peace. Meanwhile, the Eastern Sudan has received very little international attention and humanitarian help. The Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement, on the other hand, was negotiated and signed in 2006.

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Presenter: Datejie Green

Affiliation: York University

Presentation Title: Film: "Acts of Love - The Struggle for Sudan" (Women and the CPA)

Abstract: "Acts of Love" bears witness to the dawn of peace in war-ravaged southern Sudan through the stories of women who played a critical role in sewing the seeds of unity and dialogue. Their words speak to the people's hope and love for the land and the alluring promise of freedom and prosperity following 50 years of civil war. This film was shot in Kenya and South Sudan in the weeks following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005. It explores everyday life, as it was from survival to the perpetual tasks of communicating and mobilizing for justice and peace. Unique and historic events, including political meetings and celebrations coalesce with interviews to reveal a moment of precarious yet unprecedented possibility.

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Presenter: Mohamed Ibrahim (Mohamed Elgadi)

Affiliation: Amherst Progressive Muslims

Presentation Title: Teaching Islam for Sudanese-American Students: A Human Rights-Integrated Curriculum [Presentation One]

Abstract:

            Since the first bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993 and the fact that numbers of Sudanese Americans were found to be involved, many Sudanese expressed surprise about such violent behavior. However, the roots and causes were evident in several mosques in Brooklyn, New York, where many of these Sudanese lived. Messages of hate messages against non-Muslims were publicly aired from the loudspeakers and amplifiers of mosque minarets during Friday sermons. In 2006, another cell of young Canadian Muslims was infiltrated before carrying out a massive bombing attack in southern Ontario. Those involved were Western homegrown "Jihadists" and were not imported from Khartoum, Waziristan, or Kandahar.

            This paper is an attempt to explore and evaluate the curriculum that has been used to teach the subject of Islamic Studies in the informal weekend school of the Sudanese community in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The goal of this evaluation is to explore whether this curriculum addresses contemporary Islamic issues vis-a-vis the community needs in light of difficulties that face Muslims, and in particular immigrant ones, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. This study adopts a different concept in Advocacy Evaluation, and the methodology in use is in-depth qualitative evaluation interviews that involve parents, teachers, and students.

            A natural follow-up to this study would be a human rights-focused curriculum that addresses the concerns of radicalization and indoctrination that has hijacked Islam, which has resulted in the forced migration of most of the Sudanese-Americans from their homeland of Sudan.

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Presenter: Khalid Kodi

Affiliation: Boston College/Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Presentation Title:  Sudan’s Wars: Peace and Wars

Abstract:

            This is an art work presentation, preceded by introductory remarks by Khalid Kodi and taking place alongside the conference reception on Friday evening.

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Presenter: Cherry Leonardi

Affiliation: Durham University

Presentation Title: Spiritual Power, Political Power and Peace-Making in the "New" Southern Sudan

Abstract:

            This paper discusses the historical and contemporary roles of religious leaders in Southern Sudan. Political and military leaders in the south have increasingly sought legitimacy through both the Christian churches and traditional religious leaders like spearmasters and rainmakers. Civilians, on the other hand, uphol