The Mediator. Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo and the Southern Sudan Peace Process

by Waithaka Waihenya

This is the story of the peace process in Sudan. It is told by one of Kenya's most distinguished writers, well placed to narrate the extraordinary story of how peace in Africa's largest country was mediated over a period of over five years by General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, a passionate and indefatigable soldier. Sumbeiywo managed to achieve what top-level international diplomats had failed to do: to reconcile the positions represented by the President of the Khartoum Government, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, on the one hand, and on the other, by the late Colonel John Garang, leader of the southern-based resistance movement/army, the SPLM/A, until his untimely death in 2005. The process culminated in the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, which effectively ended over two decades of conflict, and marked a major breakthrough in the history of the African continent.

The author has drawn on key people who were instrumental in the peace process, and those who played a central role in Sumbeiywo's life and career: the former President of Kenya, Daniel arap Moi, John Garang, the first Vice-President of Sudan, Sumbeiywo's family, as well the scholar Khalid Mansour, known for his in-depth analysis of the problems afflicting south Sudan.

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'This book is a celebration of a major breakthrough in the history of the African continent.': Daniel arap Moi, Second President of the Republic of Kenya