Sudan Divided - Pt 2

A Columbia University conference brings together diplomats, aid workers, peacekeepers, students, academics and concerned citizens




For those who have struggled to alleviate human suffering in Sudan during the past decades, throughout a seemingly never ending array of interrelated civil conflicts, it might appear as if the situation has only grown progressively worse. While the war between the North and the South has been settled formally, lasting peace there is not assured. In Western Sudan, a solution to the vicious fighting and the ruthless slaughter of civilians seems remote. In the East, unrest prevails. Hundreds of thousands have died; millions are displaced. Humanitarians, seeking access to civilian victims, face increased security risks. Meanwhile, the conflict is spilling over into neighboring countries. Politicians say all the right things, but carefully refrain from action. What can be done?

This conference represents an effort to take stock and to contribute to an action plan. It brings together people from various parts of Sudan, diplomats, aid workers, peacekeepers, students, academics and concerned citizens. In four panels, we will examine various aspects of this "permanent crisis", and we hope that panelists and members of the audience will engage in a discussion that will bring about new ideas and new hope.

Welcome: Lisa Anderson, Dean, School of International and Public Affairs

Introduction: Dirk Salomons, Director, Humanitarian Affairs Program, SIPA

Panel One: Are There Four Sudans?
Chair: Dirk Salomons, SIPA
Panelists: Alex de Waal, Social Science Research Council; Suliman Baldo, Center on Transitional Justice; Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology, SIPA, ColumbiaUniversity (invited)

Panel Two: Is There a Peace to Keep?
Chair: Elisabeth Lindenmayer, SIPA
Panelists: Nicola Reindorp, Oxfam; Mike Gaouette, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Albaqir Mukhtar, US Institute for Peace

Keynote Lunchtime Speaker: Jan Pronk, e.t. Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Sudan (invited)

Panel Three: Where Does This Leave the International Community?
Chair: Dennis Dijkzeul, RuhrUniversity Bochum
Panelists: Antoine Gerard, Darfur Head of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs; Eric Reeves, Smith College; David Rubenstein, Save Darfur Coalition; Fabrice Weissman, MSF Foundation, Paris

Panel Four: Is There a Way Forward?
Chair: Nicolas de Torrente, Médecins Sans Frontières
Panelists: Motasim Adam, Darfur People's Association of New York (invited); Francis Deng, SAIS, Johns Hopkins University (invited); Taghreed Elsanhouri, Sudanese cineaste

(Feb 22, 2007 at Columbia University, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA))

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News & Politics

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• sipa