No abstract

Trade and markets in weak states are often discussed in relation with violence, security and peace-building. A case in point are marketplaces in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands where communities separated by insecurity and hostility meet, not only to trade but also to negotiate and exchange information. This does not imply that establishment of such markets automatically results in peace and stability. Based on new empirical research on the Amieth market in Abyeian area contested by the two Sudans -I argue that such markets rely on security guarantees negotiated between a set of heterogenous societal groups and that the overall impact of such border markets is largely determined within a context of hybrid security governance. The conclusion emphasises that without a proper analysis of this context, external assistance to such borderland markets might just as well enable violent conflict actors as being a tool for peace-building.

The new civil war in South Sudan began in December 2013. It soon proved to be a disaster for the population, a threat to the integrity of the world's youngest state and an embarrassment and conundrum to the international community. The article surveys the first year of this war. It outlines the course of military engagements, the consequences of the war for the people of South Sudan and the ways in which a peaceful settlement has been sought. During 2014 external initiatives and threats of sanctions were employed to prod the warring parties into a productive process, but with only limited success because each side entrenched itself while waiting for the other to collapse. Developments in January 2015 indicate that the time might be ripe for a negotiated settlement: the parties have reached military stalemate and negotiations have sketched the contours of a settlement. What remains is the haggling over the finer points of a political compromise. However, mediators and the parties must pick up the pace because yet another year of war will possibly result in the disintegration of South Sudan as a polity.

This longitudinal study explores the place of the civilian populations in the wars of what is now South Sudan. Using a broad range of empirical evidence, we trace the evolution of conflict practices and norms from the 1800s to today. Two main insights stand out: First, since the initial colonial incursions, local residents have been strategic assets to be managed and exploited, and thus populations are not just legitimate targets in conflicts but also key resources to capture and control. Second, violent governance structures and practices have been created and reformed through these generations of coercive rule and civil wars. These two issues have undermined, and redefined, the distinction between military and civilian actors. This analysis does not excuse the massive and systematic violence against the general population of these countries. However, without due consideration of these deeply engraved historical systems and logics of violent governance, today’s brutal conflicts become incomprehensible, and there is a significant risk that international approaches to mitigating this violence – such as Protection of Civilians camps – become incorporated into these systems rather than challenging them.

The massive expenditure on UN peacekeeping missions combined with a significant commitment of personnel and infrastructure creates 'peacekeeping economies' within host societies. We need to understand when and how peacekeeping economies are created and the kinds of factors that mitigate their occurrence, size and impact. Previous research indicates an overall tendency of UN missions to minimize involvement in host communities' economies, and considerable variation in the level of economic impact. Especially in insecure environments, the modalities of UN peacekeeping limit the level of economic interaction with host societies. South Sudan is a case in point. Annually about 10,000 people are employed and $1 billion on average spent on peacekeeping in South Sudan. However, at both the macro and micro levels the economic impact of peacekeeping has been overshadowed by the concurrent influx of oil revenue. Oil money has created a boom in the larger towns that dwarfs the impact of peacekeeping activities. The lack of domestic markets and skilled labour reduces opportunities for the missions, and their foreign personnel, to engage in economic transactions with South Sudanese.