Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 12/2010

Negotiating Sudan's North-South Future

November 2010

International Crisis Group

Abstract

"Negotiating Sudan's North-South Future", the latest International Crisis Group briefing, analyses how absence of a basic blueprint for the post-2011 relationship contributes to uncertainties about the political and economic future of each. Talks have accelerated and resume this week under the auspices of former South African President Thabo Mbeki and the African Union High-Level Implementation Panel. The aim is to consolidate a framework agreement on which post-referendum relations can be built. But with less than seven weeks until the vote, the pace remains cause for concern. Given the brinkmanship that has long characterised North-South politics, it is conceivable the parties will continue to circle fruitlessly before attempting to strike a grand bargain at the eleventh hour. Such high-stakes gambling should be discouraged.