Sudan Peace Process

The Sudan Peace Process refers not to a single agreement but to a layered set of negotiations spanning decades of conflict between Sudan's central government and various armed movements, as well as, more recently, between rival factions of the Sudanese military itself.

The most consequential earlier milestone was the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed on 9 January 2005 in Nairobi between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). Brokered under the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the CPA ended the Second Sudanese Civil War and provided for a six-year interim period, wealth- and power-sharing, and a self-determination referendum that led to South Sudan's independence in July 2011.

Parallel tracks addressed the conflict in Darfur, which erupted in 2003. The Darfur Peace Agreement was signed in Abuja in May 2006 but was rejected by major rebel factions. A broader settlement, the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur, followed in 2011. After the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, the transitional government concluded the Juba Peace Agreement on 3 October 2020 with several armed groups from Darfur and the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile), though the SPLM-N al-Hilu and a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement under Abdul Wahid did not sign.

Since the outbreak of war on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti"), mediation has shifted to new venues. The Jeddah talks, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and the United States beginning in May 2023, produced a Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan but no durable ceasefire. The African Union, IGAD, and parallel tracks in Geneva and Manama have continued efforts amid mass displacement and famine warnings.

The process illustrates how partial agreements, excluded actors, and unresolved security arrangements can perpetuate cycles of conflict.