Abstract
Since its independence in 1956, Sudan has only enjoyed 15 years of peace and almost 40 of civil wars. Always opposing Khartoum, the South, the Darfur region and even Northern parts managed to oppose an armed resistance to the central power (UNMIS Website). Hence, from 1983 to 2005, Sudan was ravaged by a civil war between Khartoum's central government and the Sudan's People Liberation Army (SPLA), based in the southern part of the country. During this time more than 2 million people died and other millions had to flee fights to neighboring states, giving regional echoes to this Sudanese conflict.
This never-ending conflict appeared has a huge challenge for mediation professionals due to the extreme complexity of its deeply-rooted cultural and political implications and the general lack of political will to prevent it. Nonetheless, in 1993, the Heads of State of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD) presented the latest peace initiative to bring both parties towards a sustainable peace. This was the first step of a decade long process towards the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between North and South Sudan (UNMIS Website).
