The European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council was established, originally as the British-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, in London in 1998. The Council is a privately-funded organisation, and runs advocacy, education and media projects relating to Sudan with the following objectives:

• To work towards peace and reconciliation in Sudan

• To work towards a better understanding of Sudan and Sudanese
  affairs within the United Kingdom, European Union and international
  community.

• To work towards a better understanding of the complexities of
  the Sudanese situation

• To work towards the economic development of Sudan

• To challenge inaccurate and questionable coverage of Sudan and
  Sudanese affairs

The Council believes that the single most important issue facing Sudan is the search for peace. Issues such as political and economic development, human rights, humanitarian assistance and regional stability are all intimately related to peace in Sudan. The January 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army, ended the long running civil war in southern Sudan. Just as the war in the south was coming to an end, however, a new conflict erupted within Darfur, in western Sudan, in 2003. This has spiralled out of control, resulting in a serious humanitarian crisis. The Council believes that conflict in Sudan has historically been artificially prolonged by poor journalism and the propaganda war so often associated with civil wars - both of which have significantly misrepresented events in Sudan and adversely affected some international perceptions of the country. This continues to be the case with regard to the conflict in Darfur.

The Director

Dr David Hoile is a public affairs consultant specialising in African affairs. He has studied Sudanese affairs for several years and has been the Director of the European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council since 1998. He is a research professor at the University of Nyala in Darfur and is also a visiting professor at the Institute of African and Asian Studies and the Department of Political Science at the University of Khartoum in Sudan. Dr Hoile is a member of several Sudanese and African studies associations and international affairs bodies.
He is the author of Darfur in Perspective (2005), Images of Sudan: Case Studies in Propaganda and Misrepresentation (2003) and Farce Majeure: The Clinton Administration's Sudan Policy 1993-2000 (2000) and editor of The Search for Peace in the Sudan: A Chronology of the Sudanese Peace Process 1989-2001. He is the author or editor of a number of other publications on African affairs, including Mozambique: A Nation in Crisis (1989).

DARFUR IN PERSPECTIVE (2005) This is the first book to cut through the many media myths about the Darfur crisis. It analyses the causes and course of the war, and challenges the accusations of genocide, racism and marginalisation made against the government of Sudan. Most important of all, it suggests a road map for peace in western Sudan, at a time when the 21-year-old war in the south has ended. download pdf now

IMAGES OF SUDAN CASE STUDIES IN PROPOGANDA AND MISREPRESENTATION Propaganda is an inevitable feature of all conflict and can often impede efforts at peace and reconciliation. The Sudanese civil war which lasted off and on from 1955 until 2005, was no exception. Images of Sudan is an attempt to examine some of the propaganda which has distorted many perceptions of the conflict - and which in some cases continue to cloud how Sudan is seen internationally. download pdf now

FARCE MAJEURE: THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION'S SUDAN POLICY 1993-2000 The Clinton Administration's policy towards Sudan from 1993 until 2000, and its attempts to demonise the country, provided prime examples of systemic policy and intelligence failure on the part of the American government - culminating in the inept American cruise missile attack on the al-Shifa medicine factory in Khartoum, an action now universally seen to have been a disastrous mistake.

THE SEARCH FOR PEACE IN THE SUDAN 1989-2001: A CHRONOLOGY OF THE SUDANESE PEACE PROCESS 1989-2001 Sudan was wracked by civil war in southern Sudan off and on from 1955 until 2005. The first phase of the conflict was brought to an end by the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement. Civil war, led by the SPLA, re-ignited in 1983 and was only ended by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. This book examines ten years of attempts by the present government to end the war.

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E-mail:director@espac.org