13Acknowledgements
The editors thank Christopher Kidner, Programme Director of the Rift
Valley Institute, for his indispensable assistance in the preparation of
this book. Thanks also to other RVI staff – Jin-ho Chung, Peggy Katende,
Jacob Todd and Hisham Bilal – for their support to the editorial team,
to Kate Kirkwood for the maps, to Rohan Bolton for the index, to Isabel
Jarrett for translation from French, to Benson Kimeu, Mohaned Kaddam,
Sara Pantuliano, Magdi el-Gizouli, Emily Walmsley, Joanna Oyediran,
Gill Lusk and Douglas Johnson for advice and assistance, and to the
expert reviewers for their comments on chapters in the book.
Every attempt has been made to apply a consistent spelling for Sudanese
group and place names, but for personal names we have adopted the
versions most commonly used by the persons concerned. Before the
creation of the independent state of South Sudan in July 2011, Southern
Sudan was formally recognised as a political and administrative entity for
two periods in Sudanese history, first as the Southern Region, following
the Addis Ababa Agreement, between 1972 and 1983, then from 2005
to 2011 under the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In this book, the
initial ‘S’ in Southern Sudan has been capitalised when referring to those
periods in the history of the south. Northern Sudan, being a geographical
rather than a political unit, is spelled with a lower-case ‘n’.
The Sudan Handbook has grown out of the seven-year development of the
Rift Valley Institute Sudan Course, which is hosted annually at the Senior
Secondary School in Rumbek, in what is now South Sudan. The editors
thank the authorities in Lakes State and the staff of the School, the many
scholars and specialists who have given their time to teach on the course,
and the staff who have run it, in particular, Philip Winter, Co-Director of
the first course in 2004, Edward Thomas (Director 2009–2010), Cherry
The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors Leonardi (Director of Studies 2009–2010) and Daniel Large (Deputy
(www.riftvalley.net).