Social Science Research Council

The establishment, development and destruction of the settlement of al-Amud al-Akhdar in Darfur’s deep south forest belt provides a microcosm of Sudan’s modernization projects and their contradictions, interlocking strata of conflict, and their violent manifestations in the recent Darfur war.
Until 1970, al-Amud was no more than seasonal-cattle camp used by Habbaniya Baggara pastoralists in [...]

In the recent US Congressional hearings on a review of US policy on Sudan, little was said about the crushing burden of poverty that confronts the average Sudanese– from the outskirts of Khartoum to the outer fringes of this vast and isolated country; the perennial displacement of people occasioned [...]

Buildings tell us a great deal. The top photograph is a view of Khartoum, showing Friendship Hall and some of the new buildings in Mogran.
This represents just the beginning of the ambitious Mogran development, by the Alsunut corporation, which compares its vision to Dubai. The image at left is taken from its publicity, which promises [...]

In the last ten years, the Sudanese economy has undergone a drastic change. Instead of been an agriculture-based economy it has turned into an oil-dependant economy which in turn has marginalized agriculture. At a time when the world is suffering a food crisis, which is especially afflicting Africa, food production should offer the main productive [...]

Livelihoods, Power and Choice: the Vulnerability of the Northern Rizaygat, Darfur, Sudan, is the latest report on Darfur from the Feinstein International Famine Center.
Livelihoods in Darfur are intimately linked to the conflict, none more so than the livelihoods of the camel herding nomads known as the Northern Rizaygat. Their notoriety as part of the Janjaweed [...]

“Angry Youths become a Force in Darfur,” by Neil MacFarquhar in The New York Times on December 20, describes an undercurrent of the ongoing war that often goes unnoticed: an increasingly militarized conflict between youth and traditional leadership within internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. The article succeeds in exposing a few key points, namely that [...]

The Overseas Development Institute’s Humanitarian Policy Group has produced some of the best evidence-based analysis of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, including studies of how displaced people have sustained their (diminished, vulnerable) livelihoods, the trajectories of the nutritional crises in the region, and the complex ways in which pastoral and agricultural livelihoods have been transformed. [...]

“The case for drought preparedness” examines the vulnerability of Darfur’s towns, IDP camps and cities to years of low rainfall or drought in the context of the conflict and displacement. The rapid growth in Darfur’s towns and cities in the last five years places unprecedented concentrations of demands on Darfur’s low and variable water [...]

Brendan Bromwich & Margie Buchanan-Smith

This report by the UN Environment Programme highlight the impact of displacement and rapid urbanisation on the natural resources of Darfur, specifically on water resources and forestry. The work is driven by the recognition that Darfurians are dependent on natural resources for their basic needs and livelihoods.
“Destitution, distortion [...]

Sudanese leaders lead the world in their skill in handling simultaneous internal and external crises. In 1984, Sudan set a world record for the number of times its official debt was rescheduled (eight). Each time the Paris Club of official creditors met, they acknowledged that Sudan had been unable to meet the economic policy conditionalities [...]