Sudan

=Jumhuriyat as-Sudan = 



//__The official name of the country:__//

 * The Republic of the Sudan (//Jumhuriyat as-Sudan//).**

__//**Geographic orientation**//__
**Northern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea.Total area:2,505,810 sq km. Land area:2.376 million sq km.**

__//**Neighbouring nations** //__ **:**
**Egypt,Libya,Chad,Uganda,Kenya,Eritrea,Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo.**

**//__Population (2007 est__//):**

 * 41,087,825 (2009 est).**

**//__Literacy rate __//** **:**

 * 61% (2003 est).**

**//__Official languages __// :**

 * Arabic and English**

**//__Type of government __// :**
**transitional - previously ruling military junta; presidential and National Assembly elections held in March 1996; new constitution drafted by Presidential Committee, went into effect on 30 June 1998 after being approved in nationwide referendum**

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<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**Sudan's economy is booming on the back of increases in oil production, high oil prices, and large inflows of foreign direct investment.**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">//__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Type of economic system __// : **=====

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">//__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Races/cultures of people __// : **=====
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%, other 1%. **

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">__//<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Religious //__ :**

 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Sunni Muslim 70% (in north), Christian 5% (mostly in south and Khartoum), indigenous beliefs 25%. **

**<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">//__Natural resources__// :**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower.**

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**//__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Main exports __//****:**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar.**

**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">//__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Main imports __// :**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat.**

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 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">//__<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Major trading partners __// : **=====
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, India, Germany, Australia (2004) **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**Historical Timeline in the Twentieth Century**
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

**<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"><span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">__1956__ - Sudan becomes independent. **
====<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">__1958__ - <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">General Abbud leads military coup against the civilian government elected earlier in the year. ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;"> ====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**__1978__ - Oil discovered in Bentiu in southern Sudan.**
====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**__1983__ - Civil war breaks out again in the south involving government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), led by John Garang.** ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**__1985__ - After widespread popular unrest Numayri is deposed by a group of officers and a Transitional Military Council is set up to rule the country.** ====

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**__1999__ - Sudan begins to export oil.**
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">

**//Leadership//**
====**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is leading the country at present. The political system of the Republic of Sudan was restructured following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. replacing the previous authoritarian government in which all effective political power was in the hands of President Omar al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup on 30 June 1989, and began institutionalizing Sharia law in the northern part of Sudan along with Hassan al-Turabi. Further on, al-Bashir issued purges and executions in the upper ranks of the army, the banning of associations, political parties, and independent newspapers and the imprisonment of leading political figures and journalists **====

//**Current Issues**//
====<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**1)__Trafficking in persons__**: **Sudan is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; Sudan is also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women trafficked abroad for domestic servitude. during the two decades-long north-south civil war, thousands of Dinka women and children were abducted and subsequently enslaved by members of the Missiriya and Rezeigat tribes; while there have been no known new abductions of Dinka by members of Baggara tribes in the last few years, inter-tribal abductions continue in southern Sudan. The US endorsed a report drawn up by an international group of "eminent persons" which concluded that slavery existed in Sudan. The Sudanese Government comes in for criticism from Anti-Slavery International, which accuses it of "failing to take adequate steps to end raiding and slavery".** ==== <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">
 * 2)__The conflict in Darfur__**: **The Darfur region in western Sudan is experiencing one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies. Since early 2003, violence and terror have driven over one million people from their homes as a civil war pitted government forces and Janjaweed militia against the rebel forces of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and the Justice and Equality Movement. The displaced have sought refuge in makeshift camps in Sudan and over 150,000 refugees have sought shelter and relief across the border in Chad. Over 300,000 have died in the violence and the hunger and disease that has followed.2 million refugees have fled their homes since the crisis in Darfur began in early 2003. That's about 1/3 of the area's population. At the end of 2004, helping the people of Darfur was the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement’s largest humanitarian operation in the world, with over 2,000 relief workers delivering urgently needed aid. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Sudanese Red Crescent have constructed camps for those displaced by conflict, and are providing clean water, sanitation services and medical** **assistance. They are also helping to reunite family members who have** **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">been separated. [[image:www.cbc.ca__LwR-ride.jpg align="right" caption="Darfur refugees seeking a haven in Chad. This pieture is from CBC news"]] The United States has agreed to let the International Criminal Court try people accused of** **<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">committing war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region **


 * __3)Sudan's economic problem__**: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">**Sudan has turned around a struggling economy with sound economic policies and infrastructure investments, but it still faces formidable economic problems, starting from its low level of per capita output. From 1997 to date, Sudan has been implementing IMF macroeconomic reforms. In 1999, Sudan began exporting crude oil and in the last quarter of 1999 recorded its first trade surplus, which, along with monetary policy, has stabilized the exchange rate. Increased oil production, revived light industry, and expanded export processing zones helped sustain GDP growth at 6.4% in 2004. Agriculture production remains Sudan's most important sector, employing 80% of the work force, contributing 39% of GDP, and accounting for most of GDP growth, but most farms remain rain-fed and susceptible to drought. Chronic instability - including the long-standing civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian/pagan south, adverse weather, and weak world agricultural prices - ensure that much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for years.**

====**<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive;">Egypt and United States are this countries allies. The 1989 coup accelerated the trend in Sudan's foreign policy of turning away from traditional allies, such as Egypt and the United States. This trend had begun following the overthrow of Nimeiri's government in 1985. The Persian Gulf crisis and subsequent war in 1991 caught Sudan in an awkward position. Although Khartoum's officially stated position was one of neutrality, the unofficial government position was one of sympathy for Iraq, stemming largely from a sense of appreciation for the military assistance Baghdad had provided since 1989. **====