Sudan: Civil War, Religion, and Women's Rights

Introduction: Sudan as a Nation

To some extent, what we call the nation of Sudan is a fiction. It is a product of colonization — or rather, the drawing of artificial boundaries that followed European colonization in Africa. Sudan is a polymorphous conglomerate of many different tribes, nations, and regions sewn together by a national government that strives to manage the many inherent tensions and conflicts within its official borders. Throughout the nation's history, the government has often acted in a highly partisan fashion. A cynic, or simply an honest observer, might say that Sudan is not so much a nation as a war zone.

Religion and Politics

Sudan negotiated its independence from Great Britain in 1956. However, the Sudanese Constitution had no provisions defining the religious character of the state, nor did it clarify whether the new Sudan would operate under a federal or unitary system of government. Southerners wanted a non-Arab, secular, loose confederation of states, while Northerners wanted an Islamic state. A seventeen-year civil war ensued, and ever since then, Sudan has been at war more than it has been at peace. This is partly responsible for the country's relative lack of development, even in comparison to its neighbors. Although it is difficult to measure the exact rate of poverty due to governmental instability, by most measures poverty rates are quite high — hovering around 40% by a 2004 estimate — and the nation's GDP per capita is a paltry 9.6% ("Sudan," 2007, World Fact Book).

Life expectancy for the average Sudanese citizen is only 49.11 years at birth, and adult literacy is low at just 61.1% ("Sudan," 2007, World Fact Book). In terms of religious composition, the nation is sharply divided between Islam, which predominates in the Northern regions, and the indigenous beliefs that dominate Southern Sudan, along with pockets of Christianity in some areas. Statistical estimates put the overall composition at 70% Sunni Muslim, 5% Christian (mainly in urban centers such as Khartoum), and approximately 25% followers of indigenous beliefs ("Sudan," 2007, World Fact Book).

The percentage of the population living with AIDS was estimated at 2.3%, though the actual figure may be higher given that this statistic relies on unreliably reported data and dates from 2001 ("Sudan," 2007, World Fact Book). The nation's fertility rate is high: 4.69 children were born per woman in 2007 ("Sudan," 2007, World Fact Book). Sudan has only a provisional government, established by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, with national elections scheduled for July 2009 ("Background Note: Sudan," 2007, Bureau of African Affairs).

Ethnic and Cultural Divisions

Because Sudan is such a patchwork of faiths and tribal alliances, it is difficult to pinpoint when the modern Sudan truly began to take shape. The nation's birth is usually traced to around 1820, when Egypt began conquering the tribes and fiefdoms of the area, unifying the North but not the South. In 1881, Western and Central Sudanese tribes were united under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Abdalla, the "Mahdi" (meaning "expected one"), whose followers — the Ansars — still lead the nation's largest political party, the Umma. The Umma is headed by a descendant of the first Mahdi. Egypt, under British direction, took control of Sudan in 1898, a reign that lasted until Sudanese independence ("Background Note: Sudan," 2007, Bureau of African Affairs).

Sudan was dominated by pro-Islamic, pro-Arab Northern governments until 1969, when the socialist Colonel Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiri came to power. Nimeiri alternately alienated communists and religious groups in his attempts to hold onto power. He then abandoned federalism and placed the entire Sudanese South under control of the central state government, spurring the country into civil war in 1983. Nimeiri also incorporated Islamic law into the penal code, which included public beatings for consuming alcohol and amputation of the hands of those convicted of theft. All Sudanese nationals — even non-Muslims — were subject to this law. Nimeiri was eventually overthrown in a coup, but Southern-Northern tensions remained as the government continued to be dominated by Islamist supporters.

Full-scale civil conflict erupted again and did not end until July 2002, when the Northern, Islamist-dominated government and the rebel confederation known as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) reached a historic agreement on the role of religion in the state and the right of Southern Sudanese peoples to self-determination within a federal system ("Background Note: Sudan," 2007, Bureau of African Affairs).

Conclusion

It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons for Sudan's failure to become a cohesive and peaceful nation. Colonialism attempted to sew together a loose confederation of warring tribes and regions with different religions and tribal ties. The Sudanese have acted barbarically toward one another, practicing genocide against members of their own nation who do not support the current government or observe Islamic law. Today, the nation stands as an example of how sustained inhumanity can retard economic and political development, and of the need for a functional, non-state-affiliated agency to negotiate peace settlements when a state government is unwilling or unable to do so.

Works Cited

Alvy, Lisa. (4 Dec 2004). "Violence against women in Sudan reveals common weapon of war." The National Organization of Women (NOW). Retrieved 29 Jul 2007 at

"Background Note: Sudan." (Mar 2007). Bureau of African Affairs. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 29 Jul 2007 at

"The Sudan." (2007). World Fact Book. CIA. Retrieved 29 Jul 2007 at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/su.html

"Sudan Fact Sheet: Status of Women." (2007). WomenforWomen International. Retrieved 29 Jul 2007 at