Sudan Conflict

Population: 34,500,000

Capital: Khartoum

Area: 967,493 Sq. Miles

People: Black 52 %, Arab 39%, Beja 6%,

Religion: Sunni Muslim 70%, indigenous beliefs 25%,
Christian 3%

Sudan, Africa’s largest country, has endured civil war for all but 10 years since it achieved independence in 1956, after nearly 80 years of British rule. One of the world’s poorest, most backward countries, Sudan sits on a sea of oil that cannot be exploited due to the continuing conflict. Despite its vast size, Sudan is largely a forgotten land torn by a complex struggle that stems from its colonial experience, its ethnic and religious divisions and from the self-interests that take precedence over progress.

Historically, Sudan has been viewed as a nation divided between north and south. The North is more developed and more prosperous, is influenced by Egypt and is predominately Muslim. The South is home to untapped natural resources, Christian and animist beliefs, poverty and a resilient rebel movement.

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During most of the 1800s, Sudan was controlled by the Turko-Egyptian (Ottoman Empire) and developed a substantial slave trade. In 1881, Muhammed Ahmad el Mahdi, (the Rightly Guided One) led a rebellion of northern tribes, driving the Egyptians from Sudan. In 1896, the British and Egyptian allies invaded and defeated the Mahdist forces in 1898 at the battle of Omdurman.

The Anglo-Egyptian allies created a so-called “condominium” administration in the capital Khartoum and focused their attention on developing agriculture in the North. The North was predominately Muslim and more similar to Egypt than the traditionally African South. The British exploited ethnic and religious differences as a means to maintain control, as they had in many other colonies.

The South of Sudan was declared a “closed area” and was isolated in almost all respects. After World War II, Britain prepared to abandon its colony, but wanted to prevent Egypt from gaining total control. To counterbalance Egypt’s influence in the North, Britain sought to include Southerners in a federated government and opened the closed areas. Sudan gained its independence in 1956. As usual, the stage was set for violent conflict and factions fought for control over a weak and ineffectual government in Khartoum.

In 1958 General Abboud seized power, established military rule and pursued an agenda of Arabization. He was quickly confronted by the Anya Nya rebels and the allied Sudan African National Union (SANU). Abboud was deposed in 1964 as civil war escalated. In 1969 Col. Mohammed Jaa’far Nimeiri seized power and declared an Islamic state, its policies based on Shar’ia, or Islamic law. He negotiated the Addis Abba Accord, which brought a ceasefire and limited autonomy for the South.

After the government reneged on portions of the agreement, a new rebel force emerged in the South. With foreign support, Dr. John Garang led the Sudan people’s Liberation Army and Movement (SPLA/M) as it took control over substantial areas in southern Sudan. In Khartoum, other dissident factions overthrew Nimieiri in 1985. Government instability continued until 1989 when General el-Bashir and the National Islamic Front gained control. El-Bashir declared a holy jihad and mounted increasingly successful counter attacks against the SPLA.

Under pressure, SPLA broke into two factions: SPLA-Mainstream (led by Garang) and SPLA-United led by Dr. Rick Mashar). SPLA-United has suffered from infighting but remains a source of friction and influence in isolated areas. SPLA-Mainstream emerged as the more powerful of the rebel factions established an area of influence in the Upper Nile and Southern Kordofan region. In northeastern Sudan another rebel group, the Sudan Allied Forces, are waging their own battles against the Khartoum government in the Darfur provinces. Given Khartoum’s limited resources and capabilities much of Sudan is essentially without any form of government.

Sudan’s civil war is being fought essentially without rules. All of the factions, government or guerrilla, have committed atrocities, without concern for human rights, or condemnation and sanctions from an international community that isn’t watching. The death toll is unknown and humanitarian organizations estimate refugees numbers as high as 4 million, of which as many as 2 million have died while in flight.

Ironically, much of the conflict is a battle for control of resources in the South, even though no one seems capable of developing the resources. It’s estimated that Sudan oil reserves may be as much as 200 billion barrels. Until Sudan can develop a more diverse economic base, its people rely on the country’s fragile agricultural base, prone to drought and resulting famines. Extensive efforts to produce food are devastating the land. Between war and famine unknown millions of people have been displaced and forced to migrate to other regions and neighboring states.

In 1999, an international consortium built an oil pipeline from the Muglad basin to the Red Sea. Rebels immediately started a bombing campaign targeting the pipeline. Meanwhile, the Khartoum government is plagued by factional power struggles among the various Muslim groups, while there is essentially no political participation from the rebel-held Southern territories.

Sudan shares borders with Egypt, Libya, Chad, the Central African Republic, Zaire, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Virtually all of these states have their own political problems, continuing conflicts and diverse interests. Given the size of Sudan and absence of security measures, the region has become a base or transit point for assorted guerrillas and terrorists. Amid this cauldron of dissent, Islamist fundamentalists have tried to make headway. Osama bin Laden set up operations in Sudan before being expelled and relocating al-Qaeda to Afghanistan.

On the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda genocide that claimed an estimated 800,000 lives, UN Secretary General expressed growing international concern about the conflict in the western Darfur region of Sudan. Civil war in Sudan's western provinces has driven an estimated 100,000 black African civilians to seek refuge in neighboring Chad to escape reported attacks from Arab militias affiliated with the Khartoum government. The Sudanese government has refused access to the region by aid groups and independent observers, hence information is based on reports from refugees arriving in Chad.

Brutal wars in Africa's biggest country

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been at war for nearly 50 years. We look at three main conflicts:

A brutal 21-year civil war between the north and the south that ended in 2005

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur in the west where at least 200,000 have died and 2.5 million been displaced by fighting since 2003

Tensions in eastern Sudan where insurgents have threatened to challenge the government for a share of the country's power and natural-resources.

An obvious question is: Why is Sudan plagued by internal conflict, and how are these three conflicts related, if at all? There is no easy answer, but a few explanations do shed light on the problem.

First, colonisers drew the boundaries of present-day Sudan without heed to the different religious and ethnic groups that already inhabited the territory, which was under joint Anglo-Egyptian control until 1956. This set the stage for showdowns between the north, populated predominantly by Arab Muslims, and the south, populated largely by animists and Christians of African origin.

The British lit the tinderbox when they left by leaving an elite group of northerners in charge.

Second, over the years those in power in Khartoum have marginalised southerners, Darfuris and several other groups in various pockets of the country, including provinces in eastern Sudan. In addition, the Islamist policies of the government in the 1990s added to the alienation of the southerners.

Third, rebels in all corners of the country share similar grievances over Khartoum's failure to provide even the most basic of services, and widespread abject poverty has fueled calls to share the wealth.

The discovery of oil in southern Sudan in 1978 only raised the stakes. Sudan rakes in up to $1 billion year in oil exports but there is little in the way of social services to show for it.

In 2005, it looked as though Sudan had finally moved to put its house in order. The government and the main rebel group in the south, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed a peace deal that ended the north-south civil war.

A new power-sharing government was sworn in. But the peace deal looks shaky.

The conflict in Darfur and the possibility of new violence in the east, where rebels have the same grievances as those elsewhere in the country, threaten to derail the entire process.

Former SPLM rebels are now in the central government as ministers, so the fates of the south and of other troubled areas are increasingly linked. And as SPLM soldiers have supported the rebels in the east, the south could yet play a role in further conflict with Khartoum.

China : Criticized of supporting Sudan

As based on Security Council’s YALTA formula, substantive issues which requires the Security Council under it’s responsibility of maintaining or restoring world peace to invoke measures of enfrocement – the approval of which needs 9 votes including the Big Five (China as one of the Big 5). With the veto power vested to the so-called Big 5 , one vote from any of them will totally reject a draft of resolution or proposal of possible preventive measures. Under this Rule of Great-Power Unanimity, the Security Council is unable to function once any of the Big 5 exercises it’s veto power.

"Human Rights First" claimed that over 90% of the light weapons currently being imported by Sudan and used in the conflict are from China; however, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)'s "Arms Transfers Data for 2007", between 2003-2007, Sudan received 87 per cent of its major conventional weapons from Russia and 8 per cent from China.[ Human rights advocates and opponents of the Sudanese government portray China's role in providing weapons and aircraft as a cynical attempt to obtain oil and gas just as colonial powers once supplied African chieftains with the military means to maintain control as they extracted natural resources. According to China's critics, China has offered Sudan support threatening to use its veto on the U.N. Security Council to protect Khartoum from sanctions and has been able to water down every resolution on Darfur in order to protect its interests in Sudan. In response to these allegations, Chinese Ambassador to Sudan Li Chengwen said that "China played an important role in promoting the agreement of the Sudanese government, the African Union and the UN for the deployment of the Hybrid Force in Darfur. China's view is that intensive economic development of the region is a more effective means than harsh economic sanctions, in the effort to stabilize the crisis and alleviate the suffering of the people".[60] Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated these views on February 20, 2008, and "pointed out that China was the first non-African nation to send peacekeepers to Darfur and the biggest development aid provider to the region". However accusations of the supply of weapons from China in breach of a UN embargo continue to arise.

Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) has put countries providing arms to Sudan on notice that they are arming a potentially indicted war criminal, as well as likely violating the Genocide Convention, said Human Rights First.

China's trade and oil interests in Sudan have induced the permanent U.N. Security Council member to provide diplomatic cover for the government accused by many of war crimes against its own people, analysts say.

Sudan has had its back against the wall of the U.N. headquarters in New York during the past 18 months over the conflict in Darfur, where tens of thousands of people have died as a result of violence the United States called genocide. But the spectre of a Chinese veto has shielded Sudan from possible sanctions over the conflict and in turn protected a growing source of much-needed oil for Beijing. "This is RealPolitik," said Adwoa Kufuor, a human rights analyst on Sudan. "Yes China has economic interests ... and yes China will not risk offending the government of Sudan."
China's heavy but understated presence in Sudan is symbolised by the vast, walled compound housing its embassy on prime real estate in Khartoum. It dominates Sudan's crude oil sector, which produces around 330,000 barrels per day, and is building roads, bridges and dams. China has become Sudan's biggest foreign investor with $4 billion in projects.

China has in the past "sold" its UN veto power to protect Sudan from sanctions over the killing of people in Darfur in exchange for access to Sudanese oil. China is now Sudan's biggest customer.