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Page last updated at 14:12 GMT, Thursday, 13 January 2011

Sudan country profile

Map of Sudan

Sudan is the largest and one of the most geographically diverse countries in Africa. Mountain ranges divide the deserts of the north from the swamps and rain forests of the south, and the River Nile splits the country from east to west.

However, the country may split if the people in the south vote in a January 2011 referendum to separate and form the continent's newest state.

The country has been beset by conflict. Two rounds of north-south civil war cost the lives of 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000.

Overview

Sudan's centuries of association with Egypt formally ended in 1956, when joint British-Egyptian rule over the country ended.

Independence was rapidly overshadowed by unresolved constitutional tensions with the south, which flared up into full-scale civil war that the coup-prone central government was ill-equipped to suppress.

The military-led government of President Jaafar Numeiri agreed to autonomy for the south in 1972, but fighting broke out again in 1983.

After two years of bargaining, the rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal with the government to end the civil war in January 2005.

Sudanese people riding truck in southern Darfur
Humanitarian crisis: Civil war in Darfur region is seen as "one of the worst nightmares in recent history"; tribal clashes in south have been escalating
Politics: President Omar Bashir faces war crimes charges over Darfur. He heads a unity government formed after a peace deal ended 20 years of southern civil war. People of South given option of splitting from the North in a January 2011 referendum
Economy: Oil production and revenues are rising

The accord provides for a high degree of autonomy for the south. The region will also share oil revenue equally with the north.

In Darfur, in western Sudan, the United Nations has accused pro-government Arab militias of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab locals.

The conflict has strained relations between Sudan and Chad, to the west. Both countries have accused each other of cross-border incursions. There have been fears that the Darfur conflict could lead to a regional war.

Decades of fighting have left Sudan's infrastructure in tatters. With the return of millions of displaced southerners, there is a pressing need for reconstruction.

The economic dividends of peace could be great. Sudan has large areas of cultivatable land, as well as gold and cotton. Its oil reserves are ripe for further exploitation.

Arabic is the official language and Islam is the state religion, but the large non-Arab, non-Muslim minority has rejected attempts by the government in Khartoum to impose Islamic Sharia law on the country as a whole.

President Omar Bashir has been locked in a power struggle with Hassan al-Turabi, his former mentor and the main ideologue of Sudan's Islamist government. Since 2001 Mr Turabi has spent periods in detention and has been accused, but not tried, over an alleged coup plot.

Facts

  • Full name: Republic of Sudan
  • Population: 43.2 million (UN, 2010)
  • Capital: Khartoum
  • Area: 2.5 million sq km (966,757 sq miles)
  • Major languages: Arabic, English (official), others
  • Major religions: Islam, Christianity, Animism
  • Life expectancy: 58 years (men), 61 years (women) (UN)
  • Monetary unit: Sudanese pound
  • Main exports: Oil, cotton, sesame, livestock and hides, gum arabic
  • GNI per capita: US $1,220 (World Bank, 2009)
  • Internet domain: .sd
  • International dialling code: +249

Leaders

President: Omar Bashir

Omar Hassan al-Bashir came to power in a military coup in 1989 and has ruled with an iron fist ever since.

Omar al-Bashir
Omar al-Bashir is wanted on genocide and war crimes charges

He heads a government of national unity that includes leaders of southern Sudan, which has limited autonomy and which has been promised the option of full independence in a referendum in 2011.

The formation of the unity government in 2005 and the referendum were part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the conflict in southern Sudan, Africa's longest-running civil war.

Mr Bashir faces two international arrest warrants - issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague - on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to the conflict in the western Darfur, where thousands of people died of violence, disease and displacement during the fighting between government and rebel forces.

He has dismissed the allegations and has continued to travel to countries which oppose the indictment.

When he took power in the 1989 military coup against the elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi he dissolved parliament, banned political parties and set up and chaired the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, which ruled through a civilian government.

He formed an alliance with Hassan al-Turabi, the leader of the National lslamic Front, who became the regime's ideologue and is thought to be behind the introduction of Islamic Sharia law in the north in 1991. In 1993 Mr Bashir dissolved the Revolutionary Command for National Salvation, concentrating power in his own hands.

Mr Bashir was elected president in 1996. A new constitution was drawn up and some opposition activity was permitted.

But in late 1999 Mr Bashir dissolved parliament and declared a state of emergency after Mr Turabi tried to give parliament the power to remove the president and to reinstate the post of prime minister.

President Bashir won re-election in 2000. Supporters of the National Congress Party filled the parliament. The opposition boycotted the poll, accusing Mr Bashir of vote-rigging.

In April 2010 he won Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years. International observers criticised the election as falling short of international standards. Many opposition parties withdrew from the race, alleging widespread vote rigging and intimidation.

First vice-president: Salva Kiir

Salva Kiir Mayardit succeeded former rebel leader John Garang as first vice-president on the death of the latter in a helicopter crash in 2005.

Salva Kiir
Salva Kiir - Sudan's first vice president and leader of SPLM

He had been appointed vice-president of southern Sudan under the 2005 peace agreement as Mr Garang's deputy in the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

A rebel since the late 1960s, Mr Kiir joined the Sudanese army after the 1972 peace agreement. He defected to the rebels on the resumption of fighting in 1983 and emerged as the military leader of the SPLM.

Like Mr Garang he is a Dinka, the largest ethnic group in the south. Unlike Mr Garang, Salva Kiir has consistently favoured full southern independence. He remains very popular in the south, in particular among SPLM military veterans.

He was re-elected in multiparty polls which were held in the south in April 2010, at the same times as the elections in the north in which President Bashir was re-elected.

He is favourite to become the first president of an independent south, should the people there opt to secede in the January 2011 referendum.

Vice-president: Ali Osman Taha

A former first vice-president and foreign minister, Ali Osman Taha was the chief government negotiator in the deal that ended the north-south civil war in 2005.

He stepped down to allow John Garang, and then Salva Kiir, to take up the first vice-presidency, and has served as second vice-president ever since.

A member of President Omar Bashir's National Congress Party, he is seen as a loyalist who has undertaken extensive diplomatic missions to depend the government's actions in Darfur and to lobby against the international arrest warrant against the president.

Media

Sudanese broadcasting is highly restricted. State-run radio and TV reflect government policy. A military censor ensures that the news reflects official views.

Sudanese men read local newspapers
The private press enjoys more freedom than state broadcasters

There are no privately-owned TV stations apart from a cable service jointly owned by the government and private investors.

Satellite dishes are a common sight in affluent areas and pan-Arab stations are popular among viewers.

State-run national radio networks broadcast news, music and cultural programmes. International broadcasters are also heard, including the BBC which is relayed in Khartoum (91 FM) and other parts of the north, and in Juba in the south (88.2/90 FM). Several opposition and clandestine stations broadcast to Sudan.

The private press enjoys a greater degree of freedom than the state broadcasters and offers a limited forum for opposition views, but the state retains and uses powers to influence what is published.

Pre-publication censorship of newspapers by the intelligence services was lifted in 2009. The move was linked to the signing of an "ethical code" by editors. But after President Bashir was re-elected in April 2010, opposition and privately-owned papers said screening had made a comeback.

In the semi-autonomous south, the lack of infrastructure limits media operations. However, broadcasters and newspapers, some with foreign funding, are active. Radio is the most-popular medium.

Sudan had 4.2 million internet users by September 2009, comprising around 10% of the population (Internetworldstats).

According to web filtering monitoring body OpenNet Initiative (ONI), "Sudan openly acknowledges filtering content that transgresses public morality and ethics or threatens order." Blogging is "subject to scrutiny and can incur serious consequences".

The press

  • Al-Ra'y al-Amm (The Public Opinion) - private, mass-circulation daily
  • Al-Ayam (The Days) - established daily
  • Khartoum Monitor - privately-owned, English-language
  • Al-Khartoum - privately-owned
  • Alwan - Khartoum daily
  • Al-Sahafah (The Press) - daily
  • Al-Anba - government-owned
  • The Juba Post - private weekly in the south

Television

Radio

  • Sudan National Radio Corporation - government-run, national and regional networks in Arabic, English and other languages
  • Mango 96 FM - private, music-based Khartoum station
  • Miraya (Mirror) FM - operated by UN mission, broadcasts from southern capital of Juba
  • Radio Juba - government-owned radio in the south
  • Liberty FM - in Juba and Yei

News agency/internet



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SEE ALSO
Sudan's SPLM backs independence
12 Dec 10 |  Africa
Sudan welcomes oil border ruling
22 Jul 09 |  Africa
Sudan beckons for new investors
28 Jan 09 |  Business

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