Sudan

Sudan

Sudan is a country with multitudes of problems. I will address just a portion of the many problems this country face but must first began with a very brief background.

Sudan is a very large country located on the continent of Africa. Sudan has a very diverse landscape ranging from deserts, to mountain ranges, rainforests, and swamps; to name a few. It is estimated that Sudan has a population of 34 million people. Out of the 34 million people, the indigenous Black Africans make-up the majority in the south, while the Arabs account for the majority in the north. Sudan's population consists of 60% Muslim, 25% Animist, and 15% Christian. The country of Sudan has more than 300 tribes! The Official language is Arabic; although there are more than 100 tribal languages within its borders.

Beginning in the 6th century, Sudan was largely converted to Christianity, primarily in the Northeast Region, that is, until the dawning of the 15th century when the Muslims took over and converted it to Islam. In the early 1800's, Sudan was largely under the control of Egypt who failed to maintain control of the country's many tribes, especially in southern Sudan. In the early 1880's a religious leader named Muhammad Abdalla started a religious crusade to unite the tribes in central and western Sudan and force the Egyptians to withdraw their occupation. In subsequent years, both Egypt and Britain had joint control of Sudan with Britain being the dominant of the two. Later-on in 1956, Sudan went on to become a free parliamentary republic, and thus was the beginning of many problems to come.

From the beginning of its autonomy, the country has had different civilian and military leadership. The ruling parties were always corrupt and as a result, the government of Sudan has always been unstable. The instability of the country's government was conducive to unrest and war between the Muslims in the north, and Christian and Animist in the South. The instability was further exacerbated by underdevelopment in the southern part of the country during the colonial period leaving the southern Sudanese to fear that the country would be dominated by the Muslim north. In 1972, the Muslim President Muhammad Nimeiri ended the war for a short time by making some concessions to the south and granting various degrees of autonomy. However, in 1983, the short lived peace came to an end when he began imposing and forcing "extreme Islamic Laws" on the entire country that subsequently resulted in the formation of the SLA (Sudanese Liberation Army) and restarted war and unrest.

It is estimated that since 1983, an estimated 2.5 million people have lost their lives and more than 4 million southerners have been displaced. Muslims in Sudan are forcing its citizens to renounce Christianity at the threat of torture and death. The Men who do not renounce their Christian beliefs are forced to have their penis castrated; likewise, the women who do not renounce their Christian beliefs are having their breast cut-off. The local Muslim government has repeatedly denied having any ties with these acts of violence and has refused to stop it. Furthermore, about 500 women in Darfur have been treated for rape in recent months and most said their attackers were militiamen or soldiers, according to an aid agency report printed by Reuters on last week. Officials believe the number of rape victims is probably higher as many are afraid to report the crime for fear of mistreatment and stigmatization. In anonymous accounts, the report described how three women in West Darfur state were beaten and raped by five men last October. "After they abused us, they told us that now we would have Arab babies; and if they would find any Fur women, they would rape them again to change the color of their children," the women said in the report. The Fur is one of the non-Arab tribes who make-up the majority of the almost 2.5 million people displaced in Darfur, where rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of neglecting the western region and favoring Arab tribes. Darfur rebels say Arab militias the government armed to help put down their uprising have conducted a campaign of village-burning and rape. The government denies links with the militia, known as Janjaweed.

The Sudan country is also facing famine. In 1998 Sudan faced