Learn More About Sudan

The Republic of the Sudan, the largest country in Africa, is bordered by the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Uganda, and the Red Sea. Its terrain is mostly flat, with mountains in the far south and arid desert in the north. Rainfall varies by region, and the Nile River runs the entire length of the country.

Arabic is the official language, although English and various African languages also are spoken.

What is now northern Sudan was once the Kingdom of Nubia–an area that came under Egyptian rule around 2600 B.C. An Egyptian and Nubian civilization called Kush flourished until A.D. 350. During the 6th century missionaries converted the region to Christianity, but an influx of Arab Muslims eventually replaced Christianity with Islam.

During the 1500s Sudan was conquered by a people group called the Funji. Several other African groups settled in the south during this time, including the Dinka, Shilluk, Nuer, and Azande. Sudan again fell to Egypt’s rule in 1874, but it was taken over by Britain in 1898 and was known as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan until 1955. The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism, and in 1953 Egypt and Britain granted Sudan self government. Independence was proclaimed on January 1, 1956. Since then, Sudan has been ruled by a series of insecure parliamentary systems and military regimes. Islamic law, instituted in 1983, helped to fuel the rift between the north and the African animists and Christians in the south as people in the South did not feel represented in Sudan and did not identify with the new Islamic law.

Differences in language, religion, ethnicity, and political power erupted in a lengthy civil war between government forces and southern rebels. Allegations of human rights violations, religious persecution, and further allegations from a number of countries that Sudan was a safe haven for terrorists isolated the country from most of the international community. The United Nations imposed sanctions against Sudan in 1995, lifting them six years later when the Sudanese government began peace talks. In January 2005 a peace deal, called the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the main rebel faction in south Sudan, was signed, ending more than 20 years of brutal civil war that resulted in the deaths of 2 million people and 4 million displaced.

Today in South Sudan, people are attempting to recover from decades of violence. Southern Sudan’s fragile economy is complicated by poverty and persistent drought. Approximately 80 percent of the population is employed in agriculture, yet less than seven percent of the land is arable. Crops of cotton, peanuts, sorghum, wheat, millet, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava, and various fruits are seriously hindered by a severe water shortage.

The lack of safe and clean water is creating a humanitarian crisis throughout the southern region, where less than 30 percent of the rural population has access to clean and safe drinking water. As a result, scores of adults and children are often severely affected by diarrhea and other water borne diseases such as guinea worm infection. The health of the Sudanese also is impacted by the high risk of contracting malaria, intestinal worms, and respiratory diseases such as Tuberculosis. In addition, Sudan accounts for more than 350,000 of the estimated 440,000 people living with HIV in Northern Africa (UNAIDS 2006), with majority of these cases being feared to be in the southern region.