Date: February 27, 1972.
• Venue: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Parties to the agreement
Government of Sudan
The agreement ended 17 years of the First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972) and granted the people of Southern Sudan self-rule through the establishment of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region. The people of Southern Sudan enjoyed relative peace, exercised self-rule and practiced multiparty democracy.
Status of the agreement: The agreement was abrogated on June 5, 1983 when the former President Numeri of the Republic of Sudan unilaterally divided Southern Sudan into three regions – Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile and Equatoria – and imposed Sharia laws contrary to the provisions of the Agreement.
Date: April 21, 1997.
• Venue: Khartoum, Sudan.
• Parties to the agreement
Government of Sudan
The agreement granted the people of Southern Sudan the opportunity to exercise the right to self-determination through a referendum to be conducted before the end of interim period of four years. It also granted the people of Southern Sudan special autonomous status of self-rule through the establishment of the Southern Sudan Coordination Council.
Status of the agreement: The agreement was not fully implemented and the right of self-determination for the people of South Sudan was not exercised by the end of the interim period of the Agreement.
Date: January 9, 2005.
• Venue: Nairobi, Kenya.
• Parties to the agreement
Government of Sudan
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLM/A)
The agreement ended 21 years of the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). It granted the people of South Sudan the opportunity to exercise the right to self-determination through a referendum to be conducted before the end of interim period of six years. It also granted the people of Southern Sudan an autonomous self-rule through the establishment of the Southern Sudan Government with its own constitution that provided for the establishment of Executive, Parliament, Judiciary and security forces (army, police, prisons and wildlife).
Status of the agreement: Despite the fact that some of the protocols of the CPA were not implemented, the people of Southern Sudan exercised their right to self-determination in January 2011 with overwhelming majority (98.83%) of the population voting for secession and independence. This culminated in the birth of a new country on July 9, 2011.
Date: August 17, 2015.
• Venue: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Parties to the agreement
Republic of South Sudan
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO)
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Former Detainees
(SPLM-FD)
Political Parties of South Sudan.
The agreement ended the First South Sudanese Civil War (2013-2015). It provided series of reforms in the governance, constitution, economy and oil sector, judiciary, and security sector, as well as a commitment to transitional justice and conduct of elections before the end of transitional period. It also provided for the establishment of Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU) to manage the transition towards a democratically-elected government.
Status of the agreement: The agreement was stalled within less than one year after the formation of the TGoNU as violent conflict erupted on July 7, 2016 between the major signatories to the agreement; the Republic of South Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO).
Date: September 12, 2018.
• Venue: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Parties to the agreement
Republic of South Sudan
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO)
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Former Detainees (SPLM-FD)
South Sudanese Opposition Alliance (SSOA)
Other Political Parties (OPP) of South Sudan.
The agreement ended the Second South Sudanese Civil War (2016-2018). As in the case of the ARCSS, the R-ARCSS revived the series of reforms in the governance, constitution, economy and oil sector, judiciary, and security sector, as well as a commitment to transitional justice as provided for in the ARCSS and conduct of elections by March 12, 2022, two months before the end of transitional period. It also provided for the establishment of Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU) that expanded the elites power-sharing arrangements to include five vice presidents, expanded Parliament to 550 members and Cabinet to 35 ministers and 10 deputy ministers.
Status of the agreement: Most of the provisions of the R-ARCSS were not implemented except the formation of the R-TGoNU and most of the reforms were not undertaken. The general elections expected to be held by March 2022 and the elected government expected to be formed by May 2022 were not fulfilled. With the delay in the formation of the R-TGoNU, the parties to the R-ARCSS agreed to extend the 36-month transitional period. These extensions pushed the formation of the R-TGoNU to February 22, 2020 and that made it difficult to conduct elections by December 2022.
Date: August 2, 2022.
• Venue: Juba, South Sudan.
• Parties to the agreement
Republic of South Sudan
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO)
Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-Former Detainees (SPLM-FD)
South Sudanese Opposition Alliance (SSOA)
Other Political Parties (OPP) of South Sudan.
The agreement resuscitated the R-ARCSS by extending the transitional period and lifespan of the R-ARCSS by 24 months to February 2025 with general elections that would be conducted by December 2024. This extension came after a collective and thorough review of the status of implementation of all provisions of the R-ARCSS with 149 provisions remaining to be implemented. A new extension was agreed in July 2024.
Status of the agreement: There is not much progress made in the implementation of the 149 remaining provisions. This poses a real dilemma to the parties signatory to the R-ARCSS on whether to extend the transitional period again and to delay elections or hold elections under the circumstances. Such dilemma is even complicated by the growing demand to end the continuous extension of the transitional period and hold elections on time as agreed by the parties to the R-ARCSS