A recent agremeent between Sudan and South Sudan to restart oil exports is likely to improve the macroeconomic situations of the countries, while paving the way for future negotiations over land disputes, says expert Alex de Waal.

Jendayi Frazer, CFR's adjunct senior fellow for Africa Studies, discusses preventing conflict between Sudan and South Sudan.

Sudan and South Sudan appear to be on the brink of war. The United States and China must press both sides to return to the negotiating table, says CFR expert Jendayi Frazer.

President Obama's move to strengthen efforts to prevent genocide and mass killings deserves credit, but must be given time to work properly, says CFR's Paul Stares.

Following their return from South Sudan with the Enough Project, George Clooney and John Prendergast assess the in-country situation in the year since southern Sudan's independence referendum, with Andudu Adam Elnail, Anglican bishop of Kadugli, Sudan, and Omer Ismail, Darfur activist and senior adviser at the Enough Project.

The Darfur Genocide Accountability Act of 2005 (H.R. 1424) was a proposed bill to "impose sanctions against perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and for other purposes". It was introduced on March 17, 2005; the bill did not become law though parts of it appeared in the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (H.R. 3127/S. 1462), that was signed into law in 2006.

Recent data on organized violence shows that conflicts between a state and one or more nonstate armed groups vastly outnumber interstate conflicts. As a result, argues former international affairs fellow Payton L. Knopf in a new CFR Working Paper, the State Department needs clear guidelines as to why, when, and how its diplomats should conduct outreach to these groups.

UN Security Council resolution 1999 was adopted without vote on July 13, 2011. In the resolution, the Council recommended to the General Assembly that South Sudan be admitted to the UN.

The process that led to South Sudan's independence offers lessons for avoiding a new, devastating conflict in the region and underscores the importance of sustained and vigorous U.S. diplomacy, writes CFR's Payton Knopf from the new country's capital.

John Campbell states, "Rather than resolving the generations-long Sudan crisis, Juba's independence on July 9 merely opens a new chapter in a familiar, complicated story."

South Sudan's independence July 9 could encourage secession efforts elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, but elites in those countries will likely stymie those attempts at challenging colonial borders, at least for now.

Hostilities in Sudan might be relieved by a deal hammered out by former South African president Thabo Mbeki, but ethnic and religious divides, resource battles, and looming southern independence remain contentious issues, says CFR's John Campbell.

Eight years of U.S. attempts to promote a lasting peace for Darfur have failed. The United States should narrow its objectives, focusing on reducing violence and supporting tribal reconciliation.

Princeton N. Lyman, U.S. senior adviser for North-South negotiations at the U.S. Department of State, discusses Southern Sudan's unanimous vote to secede from the North, as part of CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Conference Call series.

Learn more about CFR's Religion and Foreign Policy Initiative.

The Sudan referendum now underway will likely result in the south's independence, but unresolved disputes and population shifts require the Obama administration's continued intense diplomatic and humanitarian engagement, says CFR's John Campbell.

The January 9 referendum on southern Sudan's secession is expected to go smoothly, but some experts caution that disputes over oil and land, and the south's volatility, could mean a violent transition.

Depending on how locals and outsiders react to events in Sudan, the secession referendum scheduled for January could trigger either the country's partition or a new explosion of violence.

Micah Zenko and Rebecca Friedman say that last-ditch military intervention won't bring resolution to conflict and genocide in Africa.

Religious leaders from Sudan discuss the upcoming referendum, as well as ways that the international community can strengthen human rights in Southern Sudan.