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1.3 A Brief Background
This year (2017), fighting and violations in the two areas (SK and BN) had relatively
reduced mainly in the state of Blue Nile. This was attributed to the pressure from the
international community (appendix – 1), the earlier talks between United States of
America USA and Sudan government regarding lifting of economic sanctions against
Sudan that was lifted on October 20171. The continuous ceasefire pronouncements by
both Sudan government2 and Sudan People Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N) reduced
on the conflict. However the state of emergency declared on the two states is still going
on.
Also, the pressure and the visit of the USA’s deputy secretary of State contributed in
significantly reducing the violations against Christians especially the Christ and
Evangelical churches (appendix – 2). However, on 6th January 2018 the USA
government included Sudan on the list of countries violating religious rights/freedom
(Appendix - 3).
The other major aspect to be considered is the division/ factions within the SPLA-N
since March 2017. This hindered the political development in terms of negotiations with
the Sudan government and also caused divisions among civilians allied to SPLM-N. On
the government territory, harassment of civilians affiliated to SPLM-N by security
agencies reduced.
1.4 Statement of the problem
The general state of insecurity and violations persisted because SK and BN are still
under the state of emergency “as declared by the president of Sudan in 2011”. Many
atrocities like arbitrary arrests, torture, assault, detaining people incommunicado,
1
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sudan-usa-sanctions/u-s-lifts-sudan-sanctions-wins-commitment-againstarms-deals-with-north-korea-idUSKBN1CB26Q
2
https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/sudan-govt-declared-ceasefire-to-appease-us-opposition
https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1456788/sudan-extends-ceasefire-conflict-zones
2
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