The Current State of Affairs as of 2006   Ieva Jusionyte, M.A. student in Anthropology, Brandeis University Negotiations to end the conflict started in 2001 but the agreement to a permanent cease-fire was not reached until four years later. On January 9, 2005, comprehensive peace accords, known as Naivasha Agreement, were signed in Kenya between Sudan's Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLA) leader John Garang. The deal included establishment of power-sharing government. In July an interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, granting the south large autonomy, was adopted and former rebel leader J. Garang was sworn as the first vice president. However, J. Garang was killed in a plane crash early next month and was replaced by Salva Kiir Mayardit as the new president of Southern Sudan. In autumn 2005 power-sharing government was formed in Khartoum and autonomous administration, dominated by former rebels, was established in the southern town of Juba. The government in Khartoum accepted the southerners’ right to self-determination. Referendum for independence of Southern Sudan will be held n 2012 after six-year interim government. Southern Sudan with an estimated population of 8.5 million people, is composed of ten states: Central Equatoria, East Equatoria, West Equatoria, which used to be the province of Equatoria; North Bahr al Ghazal, West Bahr al Ghazal, Lakes, and Warab, formerly called the province of Bahr al Ghazal, and three states replacing the Upper Nile province - Junqali, Wahdah, and Upper Nile. The interim Constitution recognizes the 1956 boundary between the north and the south as inviolable.

This website has been developed by the Museums and Public Memory (Anth 159a) class taught by Professor Mark Auslander at Brandeis University. Images have been reproduced with the permission of the African Refugee Artists Club.