Armed Work and State Reconstruction in South Sudan: Beyond the Peace Deal

This paper examines the state of demobilization and security sector reform in South Sudan’s current fragile peace. It outlines the military-security reconstruction work of both the South Sudan government and its armed opposition, which is currently happening outside (and in defiance of) the peace agreement’s terms and control. The paper also sets out current critiques of the peace deal’s security and military provisions: that a ‘payroll peace’ that is structured around buying out military factions is incentivizing rebellion-for-profit and further recruitment; and secondly that this peace through brokerage between military leaders undermines civil state power and authority.