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This qualitative article focuses on the high school experiences and post-secondary education (PSE) plans of 57 youth with refugee backgrounds from the Horn of Africa living in Ontario. The article is guided by two conceptual frameworks. The first is an anti-oppressive approach, which helps us examine the structural barriers at school that prevent, impede, and discourage the youth from successfully transitioning to PSE. We then use Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth framework to highlight the cultural capital that the youth bring from their homes and communities to navigate the challenges at school and embark on a pathway to PSE. Our findings show that while a significant number of the youth continue to face challenges, some are pushing back on the common narrative that Black African refugees are not capable of attending PSE.

This paper argues that access to quality education and skills development programs for refugees, returnees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is not only one of the fundamental human rights that states and non-state actors have obligations to fulfill; it is also an integral part of sustainable development efforts which will have significant contributions to socio-economic transformation in host countries, countries of origin and countries of destinations in the event that refugees become migrant, which is sometimes the case. The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region, consisting of eight member states, namely, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda, host more than 13 million forcibly displaced people. This results from protracted and devastating conflicts; drought and famine and other natural or man-made calamities. Within the IGAD region, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan produce 80 to 90% of displacement due to protracted civil wars. However, almost all the member states have refugees, IDPs or migrants sheltered in their territories. Access to higher education among refugees, returnees and IDPs is very low at only 3% compared to 36% globally. The figure for Africa is still dismal, at less than 1%; and the same holds true for the IGAD region. In an effort to address this major challenge facing these population categories, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) convened a high level regional (Ministerial Conference) on refugee education held in Djibouti, 12-14 December 2017. That Conference adopted what is now called the Djibouti declaration and Plan of Action for refugee education in the IGAD region. The major purpose of this paper was is to outline the refugee situations in general and the state of higher education in the region in particular.

For refugees, education provides life-changing opportunities, including tools for effective social integration. This study explores higher education (HE) participation among refugee-background African youth in Australia. Drawing on policy review, national HE statistics and population census data, and using theoretical insights from critical sociology and a capability approach to social justice, the article (a) maps trends of HE participation, and (b) sheds light on policy silences and alternatives. The findings show that only one in ten refugee-background African youth (aged 18-30) transitioned to HE within the first five years of their arrival. The group also lagged well behind the general population in terms of undergraduate course completion. In light of these concerns, the article calls for "expanding the educational capabilities" of the refugee youth, specifically highlighting the need for policy recognition, early intervention, and substantive opportunities that can be converted into valued outcomes.

Skyrocketing commodity prices and conflict‐induced mass hunger in recent years have resuscitated discussions about why famines frequently reoccur in specific spaces of vulnerability. Intervention efforts still too often isolate food (in)security from its interwovenness in the political economy of water and energy and from the role of ideas in forging these interconnections across long time periods. Using (South) Sudanese history to rethink the causes of recurrent food insecurity, we underscore the need to analyse how political elites imagine the role of the water–energy–food nexus and associated environmental narratives in consolidating power. South Sudan's 2011 secession (from Sudan) marked the culmination of a struggle against a state that insurgents regarded as having starved its citizens. However, since independence, its leaders have replicated the nostrum they once combatted: Sudanese resources must ‘feed the world’. A fixation with inserting water, energy, and food resources into global markets infuses their strategy, even if such an approach will not engender food abundance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study used Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques as a modeling tool to estimate the risk of Nile flooding in the cities of southern Sudan. Climatic records, and precipitation, from stations along the area were used between 2010 and 2019. To test how well the models worked, the forecast was done using a variety of stations. To determine the flood rate in southern Sudan with the highest degree of accuracy, various artificial neural network techniques were investigated. Six artificial neural network (ANN) models were created and compared to show flood prediction to reach the maximum level of accuracy and to improve the results (NN, GRNN, RNN, CFNN, PNN, FFNN). The artificial neural network (FFNN) produced the best results in the first test, reaching a 95 % accuracy rate. Three further strategies were evaluated by increasing the neural network's hidden layer count to ten. Tests with 15 and 25 hidden layers also showed that the accuracy changes with the increase of hidden layers. Also, six other algorithms were applied to reach the highest value expected from Using one of the artificial intelligence techniques (AI), in predicting the flood by machine learning methods (ML). The highest expected value of flooding was reached through the (Gradient Boosting) model, where it was Classification Accuracy (CA) 0.937, followed by (AdaBoost), (CA 0.916). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Humanidades is the property of Common Ground Research Networks and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sudan, one of the largest countries in Africa, gained its independence in 1956 after the British colonial period. After the independence, it experienced unstable periods, civil wars and conflicts with both the problems from the colonial period and political conflicts, ethnic (Arab-African) and socio-cultural (religion, regional nationalism and tribalism) problems. Many people died or were harmed as a result of the civil war between the North (government forces) and the South (Sudan People's Freedom Movement etc.) and the conflicts in Darfur. This process in Sudan led the UN and other international organizations to take an interest in Sudan, and with the Comprehensive Peace Treaty signed in 2005, South Sudan gained its independence with a referendum held in 2011. However, this referendum process was not so easy. In Sudan, the UN made intense efforts to ensure international peace and security with the decisions it took after 2000 and the missions it created. In order to prevent conflicts, deaths and humanitarian crises between the North and the South, many decisions were taken in the Security Council, UNAMIS and UNMIS missions were established, and special representatives were appointed. Despite these measures, including peace processes, administrative measures, security measures and humanitarian aid, the structure of Sudan could not be preserved, and the country was divided into two with a referendum held in 2011. In this article, in which the United Nations (UN) mission in Sudan will be discussed in detail, it is hypothesized that the UN's efforts to ensure international peace and security in Sudan failed, and as a result, Sudan was divided into two in 2011. is being driven. In the study, the process of ensuring international security and peace in Sudan is discussed with its historical, legal, socio-cultural and security dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enteroviruses (EV) and parechoviruses A (PeV‐A) are commonly circulating viruses able to cause severe disease. Surveillance studies from sub‐Saharan Africa are limited and show high but variable infection rates and a high variation in genotypes. This is the first study to describe EV and PeV‐A circulation in children in South Sudan. Of the fecal samples collected, 35% and 10% were positive for EV and PeV‐A, respectively. A wide range of genotypes were found, including several rarely described EV and PeV‐A types. Coxsackie virus A (CVA) EV‐C types, particularly CVA13, were the most dominant EV types. The CVA13 types had a high diversity with the majority belonging to four different previously described clusters. PeV‐A1 and ‐A14 were the most common PeV‐A genotypes. A lack of representative data from our and other studies from sub‐Saharan Africa demonstrates the need for more systematic surveillance of non‐polio EV and PeV‐A types in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christopher Tounsel's book, "Chosen Peoples: Christianity and Political Imagination in South Sudan," explores the use of theology as a political tool in South Sudan. The book draws on extensive archival work and interviews to examine the perspectives of lay and clerical voices from various Christian denominations and ethnic groups in South Sudan. The book analyzes different historical periods, including the Condominium period, the August 1955 mutiny, the First Sudanese Civil War, the SPLM/SPLA Update, and the post-independence era. While the book provides a persuasive overview of the relationship between religion and politics in South Sudan, it could benefit from more contextual analysis and a focus on the connections between religious and political elites. Overall, "Chosen Peoples" is a valuable resource for scholars interested in Sudan, religion, politics, and race. [Extracted from the article]

Oil has played a determinant role in the economic development of Sudan and South Sudan before and after their separation. The introduction of oil into the Sudanese economy in 1999 has been associated with many challenges, especially those related to export diversification, and institutional quality. Oil dependency increased with the growth of oil share in total exports. Therefore, the secession of South Sudan in 2011 represents a great shock to both economies. This event creates a situation in which the new country experienced a sudden influx of oil revenues. At the same time, the parent country witnessed a sudden loss of 70% of its proven oil reserves. This makes the case of Sudan unique and provides a very rare opportunity for macroeconomists to address the impacts of this shock on both economies. This paper uses the recent secondary data of both counties to analyze and compare the impact of oil revenues transfer on Sudan and South Sudan's economies in the post-secession period. The conclusion of this paper shows that oil loss has created incentives for better economic performance in Sudan. Reciprocally, South Sudan experiences a premature oil dependence that led to export concentration, institutional degradation, and macroeconomic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Sudan joined the East African Community (EAC), a regional economic and political organization in 2016. It 2011, it became the newest nation-state in the world when it seceded from Sudan. As a result, the new state of South Sudan is at a crossroads of multiple processes of unification and fragmentation. I analyze this moment of accession as one characterized by both substantive practices of political institution-building and intimate ideas about cultural belonging. In this context, a trans-border cultural imagination has become entangled with technocratic expertise committed to harmonious regional integration. The process of accession represents a broader socio-political formation that contains ideas about family, the colonial legacy, cultural continuity, and geopolitical relationships that are primarily narrated and experienced as transnational. Regional integration has therefore become a site of desire, frustration, futurity, and the production of normative ideals. To address these intersecting processes and ideas, the author develops region-craft and geopolitical intimacy to make sense of how they take shape on multiple scales of social and political life. The broader stakes of this process are making sense of the unequal dynamics of power that I argue emerge as intra-African discourses of asymmetrical competency and paternalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the place of history education in state‐sponsored nation‐building in war‐torn South Sudan, the world's youngest country. It examines discourses around nationhood transmitted via the first history curricula, textbooks and teacher guides issued in the midst of civil war, after the country's secession from Sudan to its north. The analysis uncovers a central memory of violence and an ostensibly unifying narrative of the South's historical victimisation and struggle. An emerging emotionally charged discourse of "unity in resistance" illustrates the construction of a "usable past" through silencing and othering. Its offshoot is an unsettled narrative whose key focus on unity undergoes repeated rupture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since its independence in 1956, Sudan has continued its search for an inclusive and sustainable system that will address the sociopolitical and economic needs of its diverse ethno-cultural and religious population. The post-independence political elites have adopted colonials' traditions of political violence, subjective sociopolitical contracts and inequitable means of wealth distribution that only serve interests of the rulers. Consequently, the people of Sudan have lived through two bloody civil wars (1955−2005) that ended with the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and separation of South Sudan in 2011. The separation of South Sudan did not, however, lead to good governance, political stability, or economic and institutional development. The neo-SPLA/M political establishment has failed to initiate the process of nation-building and socioeconomic and political reforms that would return political power to the people. The military elites in both countries continue to undermine the endless quest for sustainable, equitable and inclusive social, economic, and political participation. The two nations continue to endure challenges posed by decades of violence tainted with unresolved ethnic and regional grievances and identity politics. Thus, lack of political will for conflict resolution, transformation to democracy and equitable power sharing has delayed all aspects of sustainable economic development, thereby fuelling everlasting political violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of fauna in South Sudan during the first two-thirds of the twentieth century relied on a web of collection stations, a vast field network of observers, the assembly of many disparate facts, and the collection of animals to be sold for display and study in zoos and museums in Sudan and other countries. This work of zoological study and the trade in animals mobilized great numbers of South Sudanese, relying on their labour, observations, and knowledge about how to capture and care for animals. These participants have rarely been credited for their own contributions to knowledge about the natural history of their country. This paper examines the work of Solomon Col Adol who was based at the zoological collection station in Bor, a small town on the White Nile, where he was a Game Ranger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid power systems (HPS) based on photovoltaic (PV), diesel generators (DG), and energy storage systems (ESS) are widely used solutions for the energy supply of off-grid or isolated areas. The main hybridizing challenges are reliability, investment and operating costs, and carbon emissions problems. Since HPS are usually sized to provide energy continuously, it is essential to use the solar energy potential close to full capacity, especially on cloudy days. One of the prominent solutions to overcome these challenges is integrating solar tracking systems (STS). This article focuses on the optimal sizing of HPS based on PV-DG-ESS utilizing STS by analyzing technical, economic, and environmental aspects. Optimization is performed with the MILP solved via Gurobi, considering the net present cost (NPC) and loss of power supply probability (LPSP) objectives. The results indicate that horizontal and dual solar trackers can provide up to 50% better energy harvest performance and reduce NPC by up to 7%. It is also found that there is no significant difference in cost reduction between both systems. Moreover, STS is feasible if the cost is less than 375 USD and 250 USD for Sudan and South Sudan, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowhere is the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in development and democratization more critical than in countries at high risk of mass atrocities. In this article, we examine the actual and potential role of development CSOs in the prevention of mass atrocities based on an analysis of 302 CSOs in South Sudan. The article examines if and how service‐providing CSOs frame their work as contributing to the prevention of mass atrocities. The article seeks to understand how these CSOs deliver services and articulate their work regarding the prevention of large‐scale identity‐based violence. We aim to explore the degree to which organizations describe atrocity prevention as an intentional part of democratization efforts. The article is situated within the larger debates about the service delivery and civil society functions of CSOs. Specifically, we ask: To what extent do development CSOs articulate a contribution to the prevention of mass atrocities? We posit that the service delivery and civil society functions can be better achieved by giving deliberate attention to an atrocity prevention perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an extensive literature demonstrating a positive link between export diversification and economic growth. In parallel, the resource curse thesis posits export concentration as an important mechanism curtailing growth in mineral-rich countries. Our analysis contributes to this literature by empirically investigating the interaction between oil dependence captured by the share of oil rents in GDP and export diversification and economic growth for Sudan. We do this with the help of a VAR model using annual data between 1960 and 2018. In comparison to earlier studies, our dataset covers also Sudan's post-oil boom period, which coincided with a substantial drop in oil dependence after the 2011 secession of South Sudan. We find that oil rents appear to have a statistically significant and negative effect on export diversification, although contemporaneously rather than in the long-term. However, we find no evidence of a statistically significant impact of either oil dependence or export diversification on economic growth, as suggested by the resource curse hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the transmission dynamical model of the deadly infectious disease named Ebola is investigated. This disease identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan (now South Sudan) and was identified in 1976. The novelty of the model under discussion is the inclusion of advection and diffusion in each compartmental equation. The addition of these two terms makes the model more general. Similar to a simple population dynamic system, the prescribed model also has two equilibrium points and an important threshold, known as the basic reproductive number. The current work comprises the existence and uniqueness of the solution, the numerical analysis of the model, and finally, the graphical simulations. In the section on the existence and uniqueness of the solutions, the optimal existence is assessed in a closed and convex subset of function space. For the numerical study, a nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) scheme is adopted to approximate the solution of the continuous mathematical model. The main reason for the adoption of this technique is delineated in the form of the positivity of the state variables, which is necessary for any population model. The positivity of the applied scheme is verified by the concept of M-matrices. Since the numerical method gives a discrete system of difference equations corresponding to a continuous system, some other relevant properties are also needed to describe it. In this respect, the consistency and stability of the designed technique are corroborated by using Taylor's series expansion and Von Neumann's stability criteria, respectively. To authenticate the proposed NSFD method, two other illustrious techniques are applied for the sake of comparison. In the end, numerical simulations are also performed that show the efficiency of the prescribed technique, while the existing techniques fail to do so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) approved the Hargreaves‐Samani formula (HAR‐85) as an alternative to the standard Penman‐Monteith method (FAO‐PM) for estimating grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo). With much less data demand, HAR‐85 is unequivocally useful where meteorological variables are often scarce, incomplete or unavailable. Herein, we evaluate HAR‐85 against FAO‐PM across 2.505 million km2, representing Sudan and South Sudan and encompassing wide hydroclimate domains including the Nile River. We further propose simple year‐round and seasonal adjustment models to correcting HAR‐85 across the entire study area. The models express HAR‐85's error in multiple linear regressions in terms of latitude, longitude, altitude and/or monthly rainfall. Varying data periods, including odd, even and all years, are used in the evaluation and the adjustment models development and validation processes to investigate the influence of changing data period. A suit of eight performance indicators shows dependency of the original bias of HAR‐85 on the geographical location, monthly rainfall amount, season of the year and data period. All error indicators amplify southward from the hyper‐arid region to the dry sub‐humid zone. For example, the mean bias error (MBE) ranges from −0.51 to 1.29 mm/day, respectively. Study area‐wide, HAR‐85 least represents FAO‐PM during the hottest month and the transitional month (between the wet and dry‐cool seasons) with MBE of 0.65 and 0.70 mm/day, respectively. Conversely, it represents FAO‐PM the most in the wettest month, with smallest MBE of 0.32 mm/day. Beholding this spatiotemporal trait, the final yearly and seasonal adjustment models developed herein enormously moderate the predominant overestimation of the original HAR‐85. The former model explains 46.7% of the error variance whereas 36.9% to 62.3% of the variation in the error is explainable by the latter models. These adjustment models narrow the monthly MBE among the stations from −0.71‐2.17 to −0.80‐1.20 and −0.65‐0.99 mm/day, respectively. Without undermining the accuracy, the year‐round adjustment model can still be feasibly recommended for general use across the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colonization and infection with bacteria with acquired antibiotic resistance are among the risks for soldiers on international deployments. Enterobacterales with resistance against third-generation cephalosporines are amongst the most frequently imported microorganisms. To contribute to the scarcely available epidemiological knowledge on deployment-associated resistance migration, we assessed the molecular epidemiology of third-generation cephalosporine-resistant Escherichia coli isolated between 2007 and 2016 from German soldiers after deployments, with a particular focus on the African Sahel region. A total of 51 third-generation cephalosporine-resistant E. coli isolated from 51 military returnees from deployment collected during the assessment period between 2007 and 2016 were subjected to short-read next-generation sequencing analysis. Returnees from the Sahel region (Djibouti, Mali, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda) comprised a proportion of 52.9% (27/51). Repeatedly isolated sequence types according to the Warwick University scheme from returnees from the Sahel region were ST38, ST131, and ST648, confirming previous epidemiological assessments from various sub-Saharan African regions. Locally prevalent resistance genes in isolates from returnees from the Sahel region associated with third-generation resistance were blaCTX-M-15, blaCTX-M-27, blaCTX-M-1, blaTEM-169, blaCTX-M-14, blaCTX-M-99-like, blaCTX-M-125, blaSHV-12, and blaDHA-1, while virulence genes were east1, sat, and tsh in declining order of frequency of occurrence each. In line with phenotypically observed high resistance rates for aminoglycosides and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, multiple associated resistance genes were observed. A similar, slightly more diverse situation was recorded for the other deployment sites. In summary, this assessment provides first next-generation sequencing-based epidemiological data on third-generation cephalosporine-resistant E. coli imported by deployed German soldiers with a particular focus on deployments to the Sahel region, thus serving as a small sentinel. The detected sequence types are well in line with the results from previous epidemiological assessments in sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores radio broadcasting and monitoring by and about Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) leader John Garang during Sudan's second civil war, focusing on the core period of Radio SPLA broadcasting (1984–91). Through oral history, memoirs, and international monitoring reports, the article analyzes radio conversations between Garang and his critics — northern Sudanese, southern Sudanese, and international — to argue that radio battles directly shaped the struggle for political authority between Garang and the Sudanese government, and within the SPLM/A elite. Radio allowed Garang to speak to a dispersed audience within and beyond Sudan, presenting an alternative history of Sudan, publicizing his vision of a New Sudan, and asserting his pseudo-sovereign control of SPLM/A-held territory. However, Radio SPLA did not exist in a vacuum; Garang's rivals responded on government and international radio to criticize his leadership in targeted, personal terms. Radio thus powerfully mediated between personal, national, and international politics during the SPLM/A's liberation struggle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article statistically examines how competitive communities perceive conflict, cooperation, and social cohesion drivers across the borders of two Sudans. We found that perceptions differ by gender, relationship types, and the assets competing groups depend on for their livelihoods. Social cohesion in Abyei appears gendered and asset-based, with Ngok women reporting greater mistrust of their Missiriya neighbors. These women also see business opportunities to rebuild the trust across ethnic groups in the agro-pastoral economy. Supporting narratives and programs that support business for peace in Abyei may serve social construction for peace and open more holistic dimensions of social contract making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowhere is the contrast between the top-down process of drawing a boundary and the ground-up reality of living with it so obvious as in delimitations along rivers – live features not just physically but also, potentially, navigable arteries. Illustrations are drawn from the chequered history of two famous colonial river boundaries along the Shatt al-Arab and Jordan rivers; and in the invocation of history in legal settlements of the status of Kasikili/Sedudu Island in the Caprivi Strip (1995–99) and the Abyei region on the Bahr al Arab between Sudan and South Sudan (2008–09). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a better understanding of the market foundations of 'elite' autocracy, and for a re-centring of the construction and exploitation of labour markets, in histories of economic and political power in South Sudan. Based on conversations with residents and migrant workers on the borders between north-western South Sudan and southern Darfur in Sudan over 2017 to 2019, it explores how cycles of wars, displacement, resettlement and reconstruction since the 1980s have rapidly monetised and commodified working lives, land and relationships. This has precipitated rapid class stratification, cash debt and worker exploitation, and sharp controls on the emerging cheap cash labour pool via border violence, wage depression, land alienation and rents, and the construction of a private educational market, which have all undercut older forms of collective work and mutuality. These changes have been encouraged and exploited by growing classes of private landowners, commercial farmers and military entrepreneurs, and been supported by the development and humanitarian system's investment in market forces and individual self-reliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al Malweah for Archaeological & Historical Studies is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Surra Man Raa is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Using a literature-based review methodology, this paper examines the questions, fairness, and implications relating to the inclusion of the 14-Mile Area in the September 2012 Cooperation Agreement signed between Sudan and South Sudan. It finds that previous colonial arrangements and the subsequent inclusion of this area under the rubric of disputed territories muddied the waters, thus giving a wrong impression to the public about what was originally unintended and sanctioned. Second, it finds that the Malual Dinka community remains justified in arguing that the 14-Mile Area is undisputed. The fact that Arab nomads from Sudan have been permitted to enjoy access to the grazing and crossborder trade benefits does not confer right of ownership over the strip. Seen from this context, the article examines the implications of including the 14-Mile Area in the Cooperation Agreement and arrives at policy recommendations designed to ensure community resource management and investments in the area. Thus, the article advances not just community-to-community peace, but also regional peace and stability. It concludes by beseeching the governments of both Sudan and South Sudan to exclude the 14-Mile Area from any discussion of disputed areas of international borders. The article advocates that local communities should be given an unencumbered opportunity to manage issues of access to grazing areas by Sudanese nomads based on community-to-community negotiations, which have always been the tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In South Sudan, sleeping sickness is a frequent condition caused by human African trypanosomiasis. There are two stages that are well-known. When the CNS is affected, especially with Trypanosoma gambiense infection, the early hemolymphatic stage and the late encephalitic stage have been observed, including mental, motor, and sensory symptoms. In this case, second-stage African trypanosomiasis manifested itself in an atypical neurological manner.Case Presentation: A 16-year-old boy from South Sudan referred to Sudan National Centre for Neurological Sciences, Khartoum, Sudan suffering from non-convulsive status epilepticus, mental deterioration and behavioral changes for the last nine months. He was conscious but disorientated. Low hemoglobin concentration, elevated ESR, enlarged spleen and positive card agglutination test for trypanosomiasis was found in this patient. Electro-encephalogram (EEG) found an on-going generalized seizure activity. The patient showed improvement after management with carbamazepine and tonic.Conclusion: Our case highlights that late second stage African trypanosomiasis with neurological complications such as non-convulsive status epilepticus should be suspected in any patient who developed progressive cognitive decline and behavioral changes following long standing history of African Trypanosomiasis and routine Electro-encephalogram EEG is the best tool to diagnose non convulsive status epilepticus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Sudan has not escaped the world's attention even after the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) in September 2018. This agreement brought the main antagonists— President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Dr Riek Machar—to the negotiation table for the twelfth time since the conflict began in 2013. Even with the aura of a shaky peace, the main question is whether the new agreement will stand the test of time in light of the history of the failed implementation of peace agreements. This paper recognises the vital nature of the prevailing peace and examines whether consociational democracy can be propped up during this period of relative peace. The discussion hinges on consociationalism theory that contains a broad array of principles, including power sharing, requisite for consociational democracy. We argue that although South Sudan's context could favour consociational democracy, there are several barriers characterising Sudan's social and political spheres that should be alleviated. We elucidate on the barriers and suggest in broad strokes the need for strong independent institutions and vibrant civil society amongst others. We also recognise that overreliance on individuals in resolving the conflict is detrimental to the young nation, and there is a need for a citizen-centred approach that entrenches consociational principles in South Sudan's political sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critiques the prescription of joint security units called for by civil war peace agreements as a means to integrate armed forces previously in conflict. Drawing on cases from Sudan, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic, this article offers a comparative assessment of the joint security units attempted in each country. As negotiators and mediators often employ templates from other contexts, the deficits exemplified by these cases call for rethinking the practice of establishing joint units in the doctrine of military integration, as well as in the wider practice of negotiating security arrangements in peace processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skyrocketing commodity prices and conflict-induced mass hunger in recent years have resuscitated discussions about why famines frequently reoccur in specific spaces of vulnerability. Intervention efforts still too often isolate food (in)security from its interwovenness in the political economy of water and energy and from the role of ideas in forging these interconnections across long time periods. Using (South) Sudanese history to rethink the causes of recurrent food insecurity, we underscore the need to analyse how political elites imagine the role of the water-energy-food nexus and associated environmental narratives in consolidating power. South Sudan's 2011 secession (from Sudan) marked the culmination of a struggle against a state that insurgents regarded as having starved its citizens. However, since independence, its leaders have replicated the nostrum they once combatted: Sudanese resources must 'feed the world'. A fixation with inserting water, energy, and food resources into global markets infuses their strategy, even if such an approach will not engender food abundance., (© 2024 The Author(s). Disasters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of ODI.)

The cases of peacemaking in Kosovo and Sudan/South Sudan yield insights into the interplay of international politics, relations among political elites, and reconciliation among identity groups. A durable, positive peace requires an approach by peacemakers that encompasses all these dimensions. Complicating matters, the readiness of states to adhere to rules and norms built up over decades has declined in recent years. Absent a concerted effort to (re)build them, the work of peace mediation will become more challenging and the odds of success incalculably longer. This, in turn, will corrode the ability of external powers, competing via proxy, to work together even on unrelated matters in different parts of the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history and the conflicts in which Sudanese Government armed forces have been involved are of interest both from the Sudanese historical and the military-historical angles. But while the agonies of Sudan's civil wars have attracted significant academic interest, the structures, characteristics, and operating methods of official military institutions in Africa have been neglected, and there is little recent research. Sudanese military intervention in politics, including five successful coups, has been discussed since Ruth First's book in 1970 and before. There were at least 16 coups and attempted coups by the Sudanese Armed Forces from 1957 to 1976. But there is little coverage of the security forces, and there is little available to cover the Sudanese army's more specifically military record. Thus it is worthwhile to draw the available scattered threads together to start to form a basis for further research. The Sudanese Armed Forces' frequent political involvement will be signposted and wound in as necessary—ultimately armies are a function of their governments—but is not the function of this article. What emerges is scattered fragments on military forces and operations, overlaid on the unrelenting drumbeat of horrible details from the first Sudanese civil war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the challenges and prospects for revitalizing the government of South Sudan in order to restore security, facilitate humanitarian outreach, conduct institutional reforms, improve the economy, and keep the people united in a democratic federal state. It connects these issues to lessons from previous peace agreements, before and after the separation of South Sudan from Sudan. Notably, the article examines the 2018 revitalized peace agreement and points to gaps in its implementation. It argues that relapse in any of the four pillars of revitalization will undermine the prospects for sustainable peace and development in South Sudan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At independence in July 2011, South Sudan inherited almost 75 percent of the oil fields and weak institutions from Sudan, which has been a recipe for endemic corruption and macroeconomic instability. The economic situation was further exacerbated by the civil wars in South Sudan that erupted in 2013 and 2016 and the global decline of oil prices that started in June 2014. The 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) included a complete chapter to address the economic governance issues that have been facing the country. This article examines the R-ARCSS from a human security perspective. It argues that the R-ARCSS did not properly address the components of human security, instead it focused too much on state security at the expense of human security. As such, the article focuses on unpacking chapter IV of the R-ARCSS and assessing the progress made in implementing the reform agenda. It links the discourse on successful implementation of the R-ARCSS with the effective implementation of the reform agenda and shifting the nation's resources away from the usual spending on state security sectors to the human security sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to make sense of the dynamics of competition in African mediation processes and to outline approaches for effective cooperation between mediators. To this end, it analyzes four cases of recent peace processes: Sudan (1994–2005), Kenya (2008), Madagascar (2009–2013) and South Sudan (2013–2015). The article identifies four driving forces of competition among mediators: clashing interests of states involved in mediation, overlapping mediation mandates, incompatible norms guiding conflict resolution, and mediators' lack of performance. These factors risk undermining peace processes unless the involved mediators and guarantors take active steps to mitigate the negative effects of competition. This can be done through 'hierarchical coordination,' where a recognized authority takes the lead and allocates roles to other actors, or through 'collaborative cooperation,' where partners have unity of purpose and decide on a division of labor based on comparative strengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, the coherence of South Sudanese “national” identity has come into question. Before the Southern secession, Northerners were united by a common language and religion, but Southerners did not have this uniting reality. For this reason, scholars now wonder whether there is a collective South Sudanese identity because the sine qua non of unity among South Sudanese tribes was a collective opposition to Northern Sudan. However, the present article defends a collective South Sudanese identity based on how “nation-building” has been undertaken historically. It also argues that tribal diversity in itself does not negate the presence of a South Sudanese collective “national” identity because internal tribal divisions are a global phenomenon and “tribal” and “national” identities are activated contextually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term and reliable gridded estimates of potential evapotranspiration (PET) are often dearth. Being the longest available dataset with no validation, this work makes an effort to answer two questions: First, how well does the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) Time-Series (TS) Version 4.05 PET (CRU-PET) dataset capture FAO Penman-Monteith grass reference evapotranspiration (ET o) across a range of environments and, second, can a simple adjustment approach be devised to curb the error, if any? The CRU-PET dataset is evaluated against ET o in two data-scarce countries, namely Sudan and South Sudan. Monthly station data measured at 12 stations spread over hyper-arid, arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones are used. It is shown generally that CRU-PET tends to perform better in dry than wet conditions, and in arid than in humid locations. In this regard, CRU-PET has a tendency to overestimate (underestimate) the stations' values in the arid (humid) zone, with best performance characteristics achieved north of latitude 15° N. Rainfall plays a key role in determining the bias and has a non-linear effect. This bias is, however, unclear in rainless months when both augmented overestimates and underestimates are observed. Incorporating geographical coordinates (latitude, longitude and altitude) as co-variables with monthly rainfall in a multiple linear regression explained 40.7% of the variations in the bias. In this data-scarce study area (>2.5 million km2), this simple adjustment significantly improves the stations' CRU-PET as indicated by eight performance metrics. Furthermore, validation analysis showed a reduction of the overall mean bias error based on the 12 stations from −0.255 to 0.086 mm/day. To apply this correction method on a spatial domain, gridded precipitation data are needed. We used the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC 8) dataset, with which 41.9% of the CRU-PET bias is explained. In conclusion, this study cautions the use of CRU-PET dataset without prior evaluation in areas with similar geographical boundaries, climatic conditions and limited availability of data. [Display omitted] • We evaluate PET from CRU TS4.05 (CRU-PET) across diverse environments in Sudan and South Sudan. • Monthly CRU-PET shows underestimation (overestimation) in wetter (drier) localities and seasons. • Adjustment regression formula incorporating monthly rainfall, latitude, longitude and altitude is developed. • The simplicity of the adjustment approach opens venues for application elsewhere. • Previous results obtained using uncorrected CRU-PET should be treated with caution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactase persistence (LP) is a well-studied example of a Mendelian trait under selection in some human groups due to gene-culture coevolution. We investigated the frequencies of genetic variants linked to LP in Sudanese and South Sudanese populations. These populations have diverse subsistence patterns, and some are dependent on milk to various extents, not only from cows but also from other livestock such as camels and goats. We sequenced a 316-bp region involved in regulating the expression of the LCT gene on chromosome 2, which encompasses five polymorphisms that have been associated with LP. Pastoralist populations showed a higher frequency of LP-associated alleles compared with nonpastoralist groups, hinting at positive selection also among northeast African pastoralists. Among the LP variants, the -14009:G variant occurs at the highest frequency among the investigated populations, followed by the -13915:G variant, which is likely of Middle Eastern origin, consistent with Middle Eastern gene flow to the Sudanese populations. There was no incidence of the "East African" LP allele (-14010:C) in the Sudanese and South Sudanese groups, and only one heterozygous individual for the "European" LP allele (-13910:T), suggesting limited recent admixture from these geographic regions. The Beja population of the Beni Amer show three different LP variants at substantial and similar levels, resulting in one of the greatest aggregation of LP variants among all populations across the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 1960s, a group of exiled southern Sudanese politicians published a book and a quarterly journal calling for the secession of southern Sudan from Sudan to be a global concern. Roughly coinciding with the 1963 founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the publications articulated a case for equivalence between anti‐colonialism and secessionism, thus raising uncomfortable and fundamental questions of the project of Pan‐African solidarity. This essay engages these works to explore the frictions within the Pan‐Africanist vision, with attention to the aftermath of what George Shepperson described as the moment when W.E.B. Du Bois ceased to be in direct control of the movement as it "passed into African hands" between the end of the Second World War and Ghanaian independence (Shepperson 1962, 347). In the process, it deploys a perspective on the Pan‐African world in which London and New York become secondary to Khartoum and Kampala. It offers a way to contrast an "actually existing" Pan‐Africanism from a universalist ideal version in order to help us to reckon with the contributions to Pan‐African thinking that derive from lived experiences of south‐south forms of domination, rather than from axiomatic propositions of continentally shared interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]