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Sudan is in the north-east of the African continent. It is surrounded by 9 countries: Uganda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the south; Central African Republic, Chad and Libya to the west; Egypt to the north; Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east. Between Eritrea and Egypt it borders the Red Sea.
It is 968,000 square miles (2,505,810 square kilometres) in area. [Ireland is 32,000 square miles, or about 1/30th the size of Sudan]
Sudan is a very large country, the largest in Africa: from north to south tips it stretches a distance equal to the distance from Ireland to former Yugoslavia.
All of the tributaries of the Nile are within Sudan, and the river runs through Sudan from the south to the north.
The geography of the land varies enormously across the country, from extreme heat and desert in some parts of the north to swamps within the centre of the south.
The capital city of the north is Khartoum, which has a population of around 5 million. The main port is Port Sudan.
Sudan has a population of around 34 million (Jul 1998), with a population growth rate of 2.37%.
Most of the people in the north of Sudan are Arab. But there are many black or non-arab tribes also. The names of some of these are the Beja, Jamala and Nubian peoples.
In northern Sudan, the official language is Arabic, though many people also speak English. There are also many other African languages spoken.
About three-quarters of the population are Sunni Muslims. Islamic culture is very strong in the North.
In southern Sudan, the population are mainly black African. Two of the larger groups of people are the Dinka and the Nuer. In the South, about one-sixth are animist. These people believe that they are partly spirit, a being which is separate from their bodies.
The remainder are Christian, mostly Roman Catholic.
People have lived in the area now known as Sudan for millions of years. Homer knew of Sudan, and Greeks traded with people from the area in his time. Nero also knew of it, but resisted trying to colonise it, seeing southern Sudan as an impenetrable swamp.
Following the Napoleonic war in Egypt, in the late 18th century, an Albanian soldier of fortune, Muhammad Mi, rose to power and sent his son with 10,000 soldiers to claim Sudan, the 'Land of Blacks'. When Britain gained control over Egypt, the area known as Sudan also became part of its Empire. Then, in the late 1880s, a religous leader, Muhammad Ahmad, proclaimed himself the 'Mahdi', or second great prophet. Tribes in Sudan rallied around him, and he called for a war on invaders. Britain realised that it couldn't control Sudan any longer. There followed a siege of Khartoum that lasted almost a year, with the Mahdi successful in defeating the British representative, Charles Gordon. The Mahdi died soon after, and Sudan fell into civil war. His successor, Khalifa Abdallah, fell to Anglo-Egyption invaders ath the end of the 19th century. Britain and Egypt signed a condominium agreement to administer Sudan jointly.
On February 12, 1953, Britain and Egypt agreed to end the condominium (joint sovereignty) arrangement and to grant Sudan self-government within three years.
Almost immediately after independence in the early 1950s, war began between northern and southern Sudan. The first military takeover (or coup), was led by a General, Ibrahim Abboud. He took power in 1958 and declared himself Prime Minister.
In 1969, another Colonel, Jafaar Mohammed al-Nimeiri led a coup, and set up a 'revolutionary council' as government.
In 1972, Nimeiri became the first elected president, and the civil war ceased. While a peace continued for the next ten years, the economy was still in trouble. Nimeiri was deposed in April, 1985, in a bloodless coup.
Following a year of military rule, Sadiq al-Mahdi led a government, but this didn't last. Al-Mahdi was seen as weak, and was deposed in 1989. Following a military takeover, control of the country has been by a 15-member Revolutionary Council.
The civil war has continued throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s. It is not a simple 'northern-southern' war. As can be seen in the next section, the south of Sudan has had several different factions, some of whom have changed sides during the civil war.
The current Head of State is Lt. Gen. Omar Hassan Ahmed Al-Bashir.
In 1983, Nimeiri had tried to introduce Sharia law across the country. Sharia law is Islamic law, based on their religious book, the Koran. As most of the people of southern Sudan are not Muslim, they did not want to be bound by Islamic law. This saw the end of what was at best a weak peace. The civil war began again.
Within southern Sudan, disputes between various groups of people were on-going. The strongest, lasting force to emerge was the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) or Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). This united a number of leaders within the south. However, all were not happy with it.
The leader of the SPLA is John Garang. At times, however, there have been splits within the SPLA. The one that caused the greatest problems for southern Sudan was the group led by Kerubino Kuanyin Bol. In 1987, Garang and Kerubino had a falling out, which saw Kerubino spending almost 6 years in prison. He escaped in 1992 and fled to Nairobi. In 1997, when he joined the army of the northern government, and was made a Major-General.
This did not last, however. He was soon unhappy with what was being given to him by the northern government. He left them, and went to the south again. In the meantime, he had gathered an army of 2000 SPLA soldiers. In 1998, he took the large town of Wau and set up base there. Kerubino was reported as dead in September 1999. In 2003, peace negotiations that are taking place in Kenya between the leaders of northern and southern Sudan look hopeful.
The crisis took place in the region of Bahr el Ghazal in the west of Sudan. Wau was a town that was particularly badly affected. The damage that the Kerubino army did in this area was huge. They took what they liked from the local peoples, including animals, crops and people. Many local people fled the fighting in the area.