ABSTRACT
The political climate in the Sudan had drastically changed and the implementation of the Addis Ababa Agreement was encountering serious difficulties. The alliance and the coalition structure that created the atmosphere for the negotiations in 1971 and 1972 had collapsed. The Sudan received a great deal of economic and military aid from the United States. Some have indicated that part of the military aid was used in attacking the Southern insurgency and encouraged the Sudanese government to take a military option instead of seeking a political solution. The new Ethiopian regime also perceived the Sudan as a launching pad for destabilization efforts against it by the West. The greatest and most useful insights to be derived from the Sudan experience, however, concern process rather than content, i.e., lessons on how to approach mediation, how the mediation process works, and how it facilitates agreement.
