John Young has a PhD in Political Science from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and has worked in the Horn of Africa since 1986 as a teacher of technical English in Sudan, journalist with the Sudan Times in Khartoum, lecturer in Political Science at Addis Ababa University, consultant for the Canadian government on federalism in Ethiopia and the Sudan peace process, advisor to IGAD, a monitor of the conflict in South Sudan, and political advisor to the Carter Center.