This report will discuss the geopolitical context and consequences of the underlying competition for direct political and economic influence in South Sudan. It will reflect on the practical military considerations preoccupying the vast array of players involved in the regional chess game. It will also consider the main economic and strategic interests of the regional states and the methods that they are using in order to attain them, which could drastically transform the current power play in the region in decades to come. In the first part of this report – the divergence of interests between Sudan is examined, the internal stability is clearly tied to the security situation in South Sudan and Uganda, which was willing to unilaterally undertake direct military intervention in South Sudan. In the second part the greatest concerns of Ethiopia and Eritrea are examined and their ability to position themselves in the competition to their advantage. The third and final part tries to assess the specific roles played by Kenya and Egypt, which are both far from insignificant in the regional balance of power.
