


Republic of the Sudan


Population (2000 est.) 30 million; 30%-33% urban.
Annual growth rate (2000 est.) 2.8%.
Ethnic groups: Arab-African, black African.
Languages: Arabic (official), English, tribal languages.

Type: Military dictatorship with pro-government parliament.
Independence: January 1, 1956.
Branches: Executive--Executive authority held by the president who also is the prime minister, head of state, head of government and commander in chief of the armed forces.Judicial--High court, Minister of Justice, Attorney General, civil and special tribunals (where Islamic principals inspire the constitution as well as civil and criminal law and jurisprudence), constitutional court, tribal courts and investigative commissions. Parliament: National Assembly. Elections in December 2000 were seriously flawed as the major parties boycotted the election; the majority of ruling party candidates ran unopposed; and most remaining MPs, especially from the south, were appointed by the President.
Central government budget (2001 est.) $2.9 billion. Defense (2000 est.) 35% of GNP.

Flag: Sudan flag

GDP (2000 est.): $11 billion.
GDP annual growth rate (2001 est.): 6%.
Per capita income GDP (2001 est.): $300.
Avg. annual inflation rate (2001 est.): 13%.
Trade (2000 est.): Exports--$1.8 billion: crude oil and petroleum products, cotton, gold, sorghum, peanuts, gum arabic, sugar, meat, hides, live animals, and sesame seeds.Major markets-- Egypt, Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, China, South Korea. Imports--$1.5 billion: oil and petroleum products, oil pipeline, pumping and refining equipment, chemical products and equipment, wheat and wheat flour, transport equipment, food stuffs, tea, agricultural inputs and machinery, industrial inputs and manufactured goods. Major suppliers--European Union, China, Malaysia, Canada, England, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the Gulf states. Fiscal year: July 1-June 30.

PEOPLEPerson silhouetted against the sunset near Thiekthou, Sudan
In Sudan's 1981 census, the population was calculated at 21 million. No comprehensive census has been carried out since that time due to the resumption of the civil war in 1983. Current estimates range to 30 million.


Sudan has two distinct major cultures--Arab and Black African--with hundreds of ethnic and tribal divisions and language groups, which makes effective collaboration among them a major problem.

The northern states cover most of the Sudan and include most of the urban centers. Most of the 22 million Sudanese who live in this region are Arabic speaking Muslims, though the majority also use a traditional non-Arabic mother tongue (i.e., Nubian, Beja, Fur, Nuban, Ingessana, etc.) Among these are several distinct tribal groups; the Kababish of northern Kordofan, a camel-raising people; the Ja'alin and Shaigiyya groups of settled tribes along the rivers; the seminomadic Baggara or Kordofan and Darfur; the Hamitic Beja in the Red Sea area and Nubians of the northern Nile areas, some of whom have been resettled on the Atbara River; and the Negroid Nuba of southern Kordofan and Fur in the western reaches of the country.

The southern region has a population of around 6 million and a predominantly rural, subsistence economy. This region has been negatively affected by war for all but 10 years of the independence period (1956), resulting in serious neglect, lack of infrastructure development, and major destruction and displacement. More than 2 million people have died, and more than 4 million are internally displaced or become refugees as a result of the civil war and war-related impacts. Here the Sudanese practice mainly indigenous traditional beliefs, although Christian missionaries have converted some. The south also contains many tribal groups and uses many more languages than in the north. The Dinka (pop. est. more than 1 million) is the largest of the many Black African tribes of the Sudan. Along with the Shilluk and the Nuer, they are among the Nilotic tribes. The Azande, Bor, and Jo Luo are "Sudanic" tribes in the west, and the Acholi and Lotuhu live in the extreme south, extending into Uganda.









In 1972, the Addis Ababa agreement led to a cessation of the north-south civil war and a period of cessation of the civil was and a degree of self-rule. This led to a period of ten years of hiatus in the civil war.



In September 1984, President Nimeiri announced the end of the state of emergency and dismantled the emergency courts but soon promulgated a new judiciary act, which continued many of the practices of the emergency courts. Despite Nimeiri's public assurances that the rights on non-Muslims would be respected, southerners and other non-Muslims remained deeply suspicious.







Civil Strife

This chronic state of insurgency against the central government was suspended in 1972 after the signing of the Addis Ababa Accords granting southern Sudan wide regional autonomy on internal matters. But a 1983 decree by President Nimeiri that declared his intention to transform Sudan into a Muslin Arab state, and divided the south into three regions and instituted Shari'a law, revived southern opposition and militant insurgency.



The SPLA is in control of large areas of Equatoria, Bahr al Ghazal, and Upper Nile provinces and also operates in the southern portions of Darfur, Kordofan, and Blue Nile provinces. The government controls a number of the major southern towns and cities, including Juba, Wau, and Malakal. An informal cease-fire in May broke down in October 1989, and fighting has continued since then.


Since 1993, the leaders of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya have pursued a peace initiative for the Sudan under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD), but results have been mixed. Despite that record, the IGAD initiative promulgated the 1994 Declaration of Principles (DOP) that aimed to identify the essential elements necessary to a just and comprehensive peace settlement; i.e., the relationship between religion and the state, powersharing, wealthsharing, and the right of self-determination for the south. The Sudanese Government did not sign the DOP until 1997 after major battle field losses to the SPLA.




In September 2001, former Senator John Danforth was designated Presidential Envoy for Peace in the Sudan. His role is to explore the prospects that the U.S. could play a useful catalytic role in the search for a just end to the civil war, and enhance humanitarian services delivery that can help reduce the suffering of the Sudanese people stemming from war related effects.



From 1983 to 1997, the Sudan was divided into five regions in the north and three in the south, each headed by a military governor. After the 1985 coup, regional assemblies were suspended. The RCC was abolished in 1996, and the ruling National Islamic Front changed its name to the National Congress Party. After 1997, the structure of regional administration was replaced by the creation of 26 states. The executives, cabinets, and senior-level state officials are appointed by the president and their limited budgets are determined by and dispensed from Khartoum. The states, as a result, remain economically dependent upon the central government. Khartoum state, comprising the capital and outlying districts, is administered by a governor.

In December 1999, a power struggle climaxed between president al-Bashir and NIF founder, Islamist ideologue, and then speaker of parliament Hassan al-Turabi. Al-Turabi was stripped of his posts in the ruling party and the government, parliament was disbanded, the constitution was suspended, and a state of national emergency was declared by presidential decree. Parliament resumed in February 2001 after the December 2000 presidential and parliamentary elections, but the national emergency laws remain in effect. Al-Turabi was arrested in February 2001, and charged with being a threat to national security and the constitutional order for signing a memorandum of understanding with the SPLA. He was placed in a maximum-security prison and remains in custody.

Principal Government Officials
First Vice President--Ali Osman Muhamad Taha.
Foreign Minister--Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail.
Ambassador to the U.S.--Vacant (Kidir Haroun, Charge d'affaires, a.i.)
Ambassador to the UN--Fathi Irwa.
Sudanese boy with grain





Sudan is seeking to expand its installed capacity of electrical generation of around 300 megawatts--of which 180 MW is hydroelectric and the rest, thermal. European investors, considering the continuing U.S. economic, trade, and financial sanctions regime, are the most likely providers of technology for this purpose. More than 70% of Sudan's hydropower comes from the Roseires Dam on the Blue Nile grid. Various projects are proposed to expand hydropower, thermal generation, and other sources of energy, but so far the government has had difficulty arranging sufficient financing.

Historically, the U.S., the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) national traditionally have supplied most of Sudan's economic assistance. Sudan's role as an economic link between Arab and African countries is reflected by the presence in Khartoum of the Arab Bank for African development. The World Bank had been the largest source of development loans.

Sudan will require extraordinary levels of program assistance and debt relief to manage a foreign debt exceeding $13 billion, more than the country's entire annual GDP. During the late 1970s and 1980s, the IMF, World Bank, and key donors worked closely to promote reforms to counter the effect of inefficient economic policies and practices. By 1984, a combination of factors, including drought, inflation, and confused application of Islamic law, reduced donor disbursements and capital flight led to a serious foreign-exchange crisis and increased shortages of imported inputs and commodities. More significantly, the 1989 revolution caused many donors in Europe, the U.S., and Canada to suspend official development assistance, but not humanitarian aid.



The Sudan People's Armed Forces is a 60,000-member army supported by a small air force and navy. Irregular tribal and former rebel militias and Popular Democratic Forces supplement the army's strength in the field. This is primarily a "defensive" force, having the additional duty of maintaining internal security. Some rebels currently fighting in the south are former army members. Sudan's military forces have historically been hampered by limited and outdated equipment. In the 1980s, the U.S. worked with the Sudanese Government to upgrade equipment with special emphasis on airlift capacity and logistics. All U.S. military assistance was terminated following the military coup of 1989.





Sudan broke diplomatic relations with the U.S. in June 1967, following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli War. Relations improved in after July 1971, when the Sudanese Communist Party attempted to overthrow President Nimeiri, and Nimeiri suspected Soviet involvement. U.S. Assistance for resettlement of refugees following the 1972 peace settlement with the south added further impetus to the improvement of relations.

On March 1, 1973, Palestinian terrorists of the "Black September" organization murdered U.S. ambassador Cleo A. Noel and Deputy Chief of Mission Curtis G. Moore. Sudanese officials arrested the terrorists and tried them on murder charges. In June 1974, however, they were released to the custody of the Egyptian Government. The U.S. ambassador to the Sudan was withdrawn in protest. Although the U.S. ambassador returned to Khartoum in November, relations with the Sudan remained static until early 1976, when President Nimeiri mediated the release of 10 American hostages being held by Eritrean insurgents in rebel strongholds in northern Ethiopia. In 1976, the U.S. decided to resume economic assistance to the Sudan.

In late 1985, there was a reduction in staff at the American embassy in Khartoum because of the presence in Khartoum of a large contingent of Libyan terrorists. In April 1986, relations with Sudan deteriorated when the U.S. bombed Tripoli. A U.S. embassy employee was shot on April 16, 1986. Immediately following this incident, all nonessential personnel and all dependents left for 6 months. Sudan in this period was the single largest recipient of U.S. development and military assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, official U.S. assistance was suspended in 1989 in the wake of the military coup against the elected government.

In the early and mid-1990s, Carlos the Jackal, Osama bin Laden, Abu Nidal, and other terrorist leaders resided in Khartoum. Sudan's role in the radical Pan-Arab Islamic Conference represented a matter of great concern to the security of American officials and dependents in Khartoum, resulting in a number of draw-downs and/or evacuations of U.S. personnel from Khartoum in the early-mid 1990s. Sudan's Islamist links with international terrorist organizations represented a special matter of concern for the U.S. Government, leading to its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993 and suspension of U.S. embassy operations in Khartoum in 1996 and a radical reduction in American embassy and USAID staff. In October 1997, the U.S. imposed comprehensive economic, trade, and financial sanctions against the Sudan. In August 1998, in the wake of the East Africa embassy bombings, the U.S. launched retaliatory cruise missile strikes against Khartoum. The last U.S. Ambassador to the Sudan, Ambassador Tim Carney, departed post prior to this event and no new ambassador has been designated since. The U.S. embassy is headed by a Charge d'affaires, and U.S. diplomat are not resident in Khartoum at this time but make periodic visits from Nairobi and Cairo.

American interests in the Sudan center around counter-terrorism, regional stability, internal peace, protection of human rights, and humanitarian relief. The U.S. worked closely with Sudanese Governments since 1986 to see that emergency relief assistance is provided to those displaced by the civil war. Sudan's position during the Iraq/Kuwait crisis strained relations with the U.S. Sudan stated that Iraq should not have invaded Kuwait, but it was equally critical of the presence of Western forces on Islamic holy lands. Because Sudan was a safe haven for Islamic terrorist groups and because Sudan supported insurrections and/or radicals in Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Tunisia, and Uganda, the U.S. added Sudan to its terrorism list. After that, relations plummeted and have only made modest recovery since January 2001.


Principal U.S. Officials
Deputy Chief of Mission--Raymond L. Brown, Charge d'affaires
USAID Director--Vacant
Public Affairs Officer--Vacant (Alvin H. Streeter, Poloff/PDO)

The U.S. Embassy in Sudan is located at Shari'a Ali Abdul Latif, P.O. Box 699, Khartoum (Tel. 74700, 74611). Hours are 8 am-4 pm Sunday through Thursday.

[This is a mobile copy of Sudan (12/01)]

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