CANADA’S ENGAGEMENT IN SUDAN AND
SOUTH SUDAN: PRIORITIES AND OBJECTIVES
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2. reduce vulnerability and save lives by responding to humanitarian appeals; by funding projects to deliver life-saving health, education, infrastructure, and food security programming; and by advocating for the protection
of civilians in armed conflict and for the full, safe and unhindered access of
humanitarian workers to populations in need, and;
3. build longer-term stability and resilience through funded projects and deployed Canadian experts to address key issues between the Governments
of Sudan and South Sudan, including citizenship, debt, border delimitation and wealth sharing. Canada is working to build long-term stability and
resilience by supporting programming that enhances basic service delivery,
transparency and accountability, power and wealth sharing, and conflict prevention as well as the knowledge, resources and capacity of the Government
of South Sudan. Peace between and within Sudan and South Sudan is an
overriding objective, advanced through the promotion of democratic, effective states.
photo: DND
1. contain violence and enhance security by deploying Canadian Forces
personnel and civilian police officers to key staff positions and Military
Liaison Officer positions in UN missions in Sudan and South Sudan, including the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the
African Union-United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID);
and by supporting the three UN missions in Sudan and South Sudan and
the Darfur peace process through diplomatic and financial means. Canada
also supports capacity building to enable the fledgling Government of South
Sudan enhance security and ensure the rule of law;
photo: DFAIT
o maximize the impact of Canadian efforts, Canada’s whole-of-government approach prioritizes three core areas: 1) aid, both humanitarian assistance and early recovery; 2) security, in particular support for African Union and United Nations peace support operations; and
3) diplomacy, in particular in supporting peace processes and advocacy work
to foster the emergence of democratic and effective states. Canada’s interventions in these three core areas aim to:
Canada has chosen to engage across Sudan and South Sudan, believing that
stability in both countries is closely linked. The linkage between security, humanitarian and development challenges also means that Canada’s response
should address these issues coherently through a whole-of-government
approach.
Canada’s contribution to peace initiatives, humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in Sudan and South Sudan is substantial, totalling over $885
million since January 2006. Canada has helped to construct and rehabilitate
nearly 300 schools and 107 health facilities, distribute over 1 million malaria
nets, and provide an estimated 736,000 people across Sudan and South Sudan
with access to clean and safe water. In 2010-2011, through our support to
the World Food Programme, Canada was part of the international effort that
helped to feed more than 11 million people throughout Sudan and to prevent
a further deterioration of the situation.
Canada is also helping to build the justice system in South Sudan, as well as
key areas of public administration and financial management. Canada funded
a comprehensive prison reform project, a program that builds the capacity
of the Southern Sudan Land Commission to regulate and protect land ownership and tenure, and capacity-building for the Southern Sudan Demining
Authority to assume coordination of mine action for all of South Sudan. At
the community level, Canada is helping residents work with their local government to identify and address sources of insecurity, for example by establishing and equipping Livestock Patrol Units.
Canada’s considerable financial and material support to enhancing the operational capacity of UNAMID is complemented by the important contribution
that Canadian Forces members and Canadian police officers have made to the
operations of this mission, as well as that of the United Nations Mission in
Sudan (UNMIS), the former UN mission that fostered the implementation
of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) from 2005 to 2011. In addition, Canada has been a leader in providing training and equipment to some
African countries that contribute peacekeeping personnel. Canada supported
the AU-UN Darfur peace process in Doha, Qatar and serves on the peace
agreement’s Implementation Follow-Up Commission and Joint Ceasefire
Commission. Canada also contributed to the implementation of the CPA,
including support for the 2011 referendum.
BACKGROUND
photo: DFAIT
CANADIAN ACTIONS
Sudan and South Sudan are ethnically diverse countries located at the intersection of North Africa,
Central Africa and the Horn of Africa. Sudan and
South Sudan are host to one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations and to three United
Nations peacekeeping missions – the African
Union-United Nations Hybrid operation in
Darfur (UNAMID), the United Nations Interim
Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) and the United
Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
There are an estimated 5.2 million internally displaced people throughout Sudan and South Sudan,
including 1.9 million in Darfur, 300,000 recently
displaced by violence in states along the North/
South border, and some 430,000 Sudanese refugees in neighbouring states, with more than half of
them Darfuri refugees in Chad.
Sudan has faced largely uninterrupted armed conflict since its independence in 1956. Twenty-three
years of North-South civil war ended in 2005,
while the conflict in Darfur is ongoing. Eastern
Sudan also suffered through nine years of conflict
between 1997 and 2006. These conflicts have similar root causes: poor governance by the ruling elite
in Khartoum, who have relied on non-democratic
means to remain in power and on manipulation of
ethnic and religious divisions, which has created or
worsened regional disparities in wealth and power.
Environmental stresses have also played a role.
The various crises in Sudan and South Sudan are a
chronic source of instability for the nine neighbours,
particularly Chad, the Central African Republic,
Libya, Uganda and Kenya. Peace, stability and good
governance could generate concrete economic and
social gains in Sudan and South Sudan, while generating substantial peace dividends in the region.
photo: RCMP
THE NORTH-SOUTH CONFLICT
From 1955 until 1972 and again from 1983 until 2005, civil war between
the government in Khartoum and much of Southern Sudan ravaged many
parts of the South. The conflict ended with the 2005 CPA between the
government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement
(SPLM). The CPA included provisions for national elections, which took
place in April 2010, and for a referendum on Southern self-determination, which was held in January 2011. During the referendum, Southern
Sudanese voted overwhelmingly in favour of secession. The Government of
Sudan recognized the outcome and the Republic of South Sudan became independent on July 9, 2011. A number of key provisions of the CPA have yet
to be fulfilled, including a referendum on the future of the Abyei region and
popular consultations in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states. Negotiations
on outstanding issues have yet to be concluded, including oil, citizenship,
debt, border delimitation, and wealth sharing and other financial arrangements. Agreement on these issues is critical to peace and stability in Sudan
and South Sudan.
Independence does not mean
that a just and lasting peace
has been reached in Sudan
and South Sudan; in fact,
both are entering a new and DARFUR
arguably more dangerous Sudan’s western region of Darfur continues to suffer from war. Conflict
phase of their history. Sudan erupted when rebel groups took up arms, accusing the Government of
of oppression and government-affiliated tribal militias of ethnic
and South Sudan remain Sudan
cleansing. Since 2003, the Darfur conflict has resulted in 300,000 deaths,
plagued by conflict, human displaced almost 3 million, and destabilized neighbouring countries. There
reports of ethnic and politically motivated targeting by tribal militias
suffering, human rights are
allied with Khartoum.
abuses, and insecurity,
and continue to require On July 31, 2007, the United Nations Security Council established a joint
African Union-United Nations mission, known as the AU-UN Hybrid opinternational support and eration in Darfur (UNAMID). Mandated to stabilize Darfur and to protect
attention to resolve internal civilians, UNAMID is the largest peacekeeping force in UN history and the
first AU-UN hybrid mission. However, the conflict persists and UNAMID
and cross-border issues. continues to face obstructions to freedom of movement and humanitarian
access. The Government of Sudan has also expelled foreign humanitarian
workers and arrested human rights activists and journalists.
The Doha-based, AU and UN-led peace process on Darfur ended with a preliminary peace agreement, but it was not signed by all parties. While the agreement represented an important first step, continued efforts to negotiate peace
in the Darfur region of Sudan are essential to end the eight-year conflict.