School of Foreign Service - Georgetown

SFS Distinguished Professor Andrew Natsios wrote about Sudan's oil crisis, and how that is the least of Bashir's problems, with threats of being overthrown and an economy in tatters looming for Foreign Affairs this week.

But the referendum and the South's formal declaration of independence have not produced a lasting peace, yet. Despite the mediation of former South African President Thabo Mbeki, negotiations before independence (and since) left several unresolved issues to fester: How much the South would pay to transport oil through the North, where the actual border would lie (especially the status of the disputed region of Abyei), debt sharing, and what the citizenship status of South Sudanese remaining in the North, and vice versa, would be. In addition to tension surrounding these questions, a wider opposition that includes the three major Darfur rebel movements, the Northern arm of the Southern political movement, is growing. It is making this moment all the more precarious for Khartoum. In fact, the tangle of contestations and conflicts across the country marks the most serious challenge to the survival of Omar al-Bashir's Islamist government since it usurped power more than two decades ago.

Read more about the troubles in the Republic of South Sudan in Foreign Affairs.

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Distinguished Professor Andrew Natsios wrote about the benefits of Southern Sudan becoming a U.S. ally on the CNN's Global Public Square blog.

With independence, the U.S. and European governments ought to consider a long-term strategic alliance with the Republic of South Sudan that would not be costly at a time when the federal budget deficit is so large.  First, the United States and Europe should consider a free trade agreement with the South, tying its economies to theirs and facilitating western business investment.   Adding the influential American and European business communities to those supporting closer ties with the South would cement this alliance.

 

Read the full version of Southern Sudan: A new strategic ally?

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