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| A long line of Sudanese children waiting for foodat the Dzaipi transit centre in Uganda. Photo: UNHCR/F.Noy |
An upcoming symposium at the Lincoln Center campus will focus attention on South Sudan, where a civil war has led to thousands of deaths and displaced hundreds of thousands of people since it broke out in December.
The event is titled “Perspectives on National Reconciliation in South Sudan: Lessons Learnt from South Africa, Rwanda, and Sudan.” Academic experts, policy makers, and human rights activists “will offer a fresh vision and explore policy options for peace, democracy, and development” in the central African country, according to an announcement from the Department of African and African American Studies.
The symposium will be held Saturday, April 5, in Room 109 of McMahon Hall on the Lincoln Center campus, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is free and open to the public, and breakfast and lunch will be served. An RSVP is recommended; anyone interested in attending should call (212) 636-6360 or (718) 817-3745 or send an e-mail message to aaas@fordham.edu.
Speakers will include Amir Idris, Ph.D., chairman of the African and African American Studies department; Stephen Kuol, a former state minister of education for South Sudan; and representatives from the United Nations, the South Sudan Law Society, Human Rights Watch, and other organizations.
South Sudan is the youngest nation in the world, having gained its independence from Sudan in July 2011 in an agreement that ended a decades-long civil war. The current fighting erupted out of a conflict between the South Sudanese president and his deputy, who are from different ethnic groups. Peace talks are underway in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia.
The event is organized by the Department of African and African American Studies and co-sponsored by the International Studies Program and the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham.
