Expert Roundtable:

Democratic Transformation in Sudan

Next Steps

Event Description

On May 21 from 10-11 am EDT / 4-5 pm Khartoum, PILPG held an expert roundtable discussion with key Sudanese stakeholders and PILPG Sudan experts on the democratic transformation in Sudan and next steps in achieving a durable peace in Sudan.

After decades of conflict and marginalization, in 2019 the Sudanese people ushered in a new era, deposing the Bashir Regime and giving way to a real opportunity for representative governance, peace, and justice. On October 3, 2020 the Juba Agreement for Peace in Sudan was signed, setting out key initiatives for bringing durable peace to Sudan. The Juba Agreement for Peace consists of five tracks to create one comprehensive peace agreement, with each track having its own mechanisms for implementation. Successful implementation of the agreement and the achievement of an enduring peace in Sudan must overcome a range of challenges, including outstanding tracks of negotiations with key Opposition groups, a resource-intensive peace agenda, shifting security arrangements with UNAMID’s departure, financing implementation, and building trust with various constituencies in Sudan.

Our panelists engaged in a conversation on the ongoing transition in Sudan, the status of the Juba Peace Agreement, the current challenges in achieving peace, and Sudan’s approach to and success in establishing mechanisms for transitional justice.

For the past 15 years, PILPG’s efforts in Sudan have remained in pursuit of peace through the provision of legal assistance and technical support across a range of actors. PILPG’s role remains a supportive one with the purpose of encouraging dialogue across Sudan and empowering the range of groups to maintain control over their own processes.

This event is part of the PILPG Thought Leadership Initiative. The Initiative focuses on prominent international law and international affairs topics and organizes monthly expert roundtables to share expertise and reflections from our work on peace negotiations, post-conflict constitution drafting, and war crimes prosecution.

Event Recording

Speakers

Ahmed Tugod - Representative and Chief Negotiator of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)

HE Dr. Elhadi Yahya Idris - Sovereign Council member, Chairman of the Sudan Liberation Movement - Transitional Council and Chairman of the Sudan Revolutionary Front.

Yassir Arman - Deputy Chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement - North (SPLM-N).

Amb. Berhanemeskel Nega - former UNAMID Director of Political Affairs and former Head of UNAMID Offices in South Darfur and Khartoum

MODERATORS

Milena Sterio, the Charles R. Emrick Jr. - Calfee Halter & Griswold Professor of Law at Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and Co-Coordinator for Global Criminal Justice Partnerships at the PILPG is a leading expert on international law, international criminal law and human rights. Sterio is one of six permanent editors of the prestigious IntLawGrrls blog, and a frequent contributor to the blog focused on international law, policy and practice. In the spring of 2013, Sterio was selected as a Fulbright Scholar, spending the semester in Baku, Azerbaijan, at Baku State University. While in Baku, she had the opportunity to teach and conduct research on secession issues under international law related to the province of Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh. Serving as a maritime piracy law expert, she has participated in meetings of the United Nations Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia as well as in the work of the United Nations Global Counterterrorism Forum. Sterio has also assisted piracy prosecutions in Mauritius, Kenya and the Seychelles Islands. Sterio is a graduate of Cornell Law School and the University of Paris I, and was an associate in the New York City firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton before joining the ranks of academia full time. She has published seven books and numerous law review articles. Her latest book, “The Syrian Conflict’s Impact on International Law,” (co-authored with Paul Williams and Michael Scharf) was published by Cambridge University Press in 2020.

Darin E.W. Johnson is a Senior Legal Advisor with the Public International Law and Policy Group and an Associate Professor of Law at Howard University School of Law. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. from Yale College and his J.D. from Harvard Law School. Immediately following law school, he served as an Honors attorney at the Pentagon in the Secretary of the Army General Counsel’s Office for four years, completing his military service with the rank of Captain. After leaving the Pentagon, Mr. Johnson continued to practice law as an attorney-adviser in the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser. During his tenure with the Office of the Legal Adviser, Mr. Johnson advised on a wide range of international legal issues, involving Middle Eastern, political-military, United Nations, and other multilateral matters. In 2007, he served as the Legal Adviser to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq under Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Mr. Johnson also served on detail to the Office of the White House Counsel in 2011-12 under President Obama. After returning to the State Department in 2012, Mr. Johnson served as Chief of Staff in the newly formed Office of the Special Coordinator for Middle East Transitions, which was tasked with coordinating U.S. assistance to politically transitioning countries in the Middle East and North Africa following the Arab Spring uprisings. He received several Departmental honors for his work. Mr. Johnson has consulted on PILPG's Iraq and Sudan projects as a Senior Peace Fellow for several years, and has become deeply involved in PILPG’s work as a Senior Legal Advisor since summer 2020.