The impasse in the IGAD peace process for Sudan: the limits of regional peacemaking?

This article examines the progress (or rather, lack of it) of the initiative launched in 1993 by the Intergovernmental Authority for Drought and Development (IGADD) to achieve peace in Sudan. The initiative is seen as a model for regional co-operation in Africa and has received a high level of international support. However, it has yet to achieve success in spite of running as a high-profile mediation effort for more than seven years. The article offers a brief summary of the history of the process and tries to examine the obstacles and problems that have delayed its success. It also looks at some of the implications for regional peace-making in Africa, and concludes by offering some recommendations for breaking the deadlock. This is the only up-to-date and comprehensive account of the process known to the author, and is based on intimate familiarity with it. The analysis aims to place the peace process in the regional context, in contrast to other treatments which concentrate on internal Sudanese politics.