| Sudan is the largest country in Africa, one-third
the size of continental USA, It borders 9 other countries. Reflecting
the size of the nation, the climate is also very diverse, from tropical
rainforest in the south to sand dunes and desert in the north. Running
through the center of the country from south to north is the Nile
River. The country, with a population of 30 million, has about 240 people groups. Spiritually, the nation is divided between the Islamic north (70% of the population) and the Christian (20%) and Animistic (10%) south. However, the war and famine have caused a significant change in this broad pattern. Repeated people movements in the south to avoid the war have lead to a steep decline in the numbers of animistic people groups as they have been forced to flee fighting and famine, and have encountered Christians or Muslims. Furthermore, most towns in the north of the country have a minority black Christian presence. That said, the Christianity held is often a reflection of ethnic identity rather than heart belief. Sudan suffers from deep divisions, so for centuries…this has been a nation divided. The northern government associates with other Arab nations. The southern Sudanese administration associates with the East African nations, such as Uganda. Also, many years ago, the south was written off by the British government as being too remote to be developed. Consequently most development has taken place in the Arab north of the country. Upon independence from Britain in 1956, the south almost immediately started to fight against the largely Arab government in the north. Since then the south has been in varying states of rebellion against the north. The southern peoples feel that the Arabs simply wish to exploit the resources of the south (such as oil) and not bring development. There has been a history of harsh repression of the southerners by the Arabs, with many stories of atrocities committed by the Arabs circulating among the Black Africans. In the semi-desert of Bahr El Ghazal, there have been recurrent famines, which have been greatly exacerbated by the ongoing war. The fighting and famine have resulted in the greatest number of Internally Displaced People in the world (4 million) and refugees in most of the neighboring countries (452,000), One and a half million people are estimated to have died as a consequence of the war since 1984. People walk long distances in search of a chance for peace and food. Black Sudanese are found in all towns in both the south and the north of Sudan- however, they are largely marginalized in the north. The current rebellion is lead by the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) headed by John Garang and started in 1984. To date they have succeeded in taking much of the south, although a string of garrison towns in the south remain under government control. Initially, this rebellion was made up principally of one tribe, the Dinka, who also had very poor human rights records over the people that they were 'liberating' (other Black Sudanese). However, there are now attempts to diversify the tribal make-up of the SPLA army coupled with the development of a civilian administration made up of local people. All of this is aimed at building the foundation for independence from the Arab north, or at the very least, autonomy. The
south of the county has been flooded by a mass of relief organizations
dedicated to providing emergency relief to the civilian population.
Most of these operate under the umbrella organization Operation
Lifeline Sudan |
