Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Heads to Africa

August 1, 2012

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton this week left for a tour of Africa, including a visit to the world’s newest nation of South Sudan. According to an Associated Press report, in South Sudan Clinton "will congratulate leaders on reaching the one-year mark of the creation of their country after it split with Sudan. But she also will stress the need for the nascent state to resolve its differences with Sudan that threatened to reignite what had been Africa's longest-running civil war when it ended with a historic peace treaty in 2005."

Jon Temin, director of USIP's Sudan and South Sudan programs, notes that "the South Sudan government is fighting fires on a number of fronts." That's one reason why USIP is providing seed funding and advisory support for the Sudd Institute, a new nongovernmental policy institute based in Juba. By helping to build South Sudan's capacity to develop and implement smart policies, USIP is fostering the new nation's ability to address the sort of instability and conflicts that have plagued other states in transition and led to deeper, more costly international involvement.

USIP spoke to Abraham Awolich, the acting executive director of the Sudd Institute, to find out more about its mission.

(Photo: Former USIP Senior Fellow Jok Madut Jok addresses the audience via video link from South Sudan at a July 14, 2011 discussion at USIP about the birth of South Sudan. Jok Madut Jok helped found the Sudd Institute.)

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