The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

This is NDI’s second in-depth study of the Three Areas, which is composed of the states of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile and the territory of Abyei. Implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 is most difficult and peace most precarious in the Three Areas, in part because they lie along the resource-rich North-South border. This research was designed to examine citizen perceptions about progress toward permanent peace since the signing of the CPA. In Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan, two different pictures emerge – one of a relatively stable, slowly progressing Blue Nile and another of a dysfunctional, conflict-prone Southern Kordofan. Among the Ngok Dinka community in Abyei, feelings have hardened toward the Misseriya and against any compromise on boundaries. Across all the Three Areas, serious questions are raised by the reactions of citizens to elections and the Southern Sudan and Abyei referendums. These and other findings from 62 focus group discussions with 731 participants in the Three Areas are summarized in this report.