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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
The largest nation in Africa, Sudan has a common frontier
with eight other countries. It occupies a strategic location on
the continent. Its capital, Khartoum, is situated at the junction
of the White Nile and the Blue Nile. Via its port on the Red Sea,
Port Sudan, the nation is linked to the Arab countries of the
Middle East. To the south, it is adjacent to the tropical lake
country of central Africa. In the west, it is exposed to
recurrent conflict among Chadian factions and potential
contention with Libya. Even under stable conditions, it would be
impracticable for Sudan to devote sufficient military force to
ensuring the security of its entire periphery. Fortunately, few
problems have arisen necessitating a strong military presence
along the boundaries with Egypt, Kenya, Central African Republic,
and Zaire. Threats to the stability of the border area have
generally been confined to Chad on the west, Ethiopia on the
east, and, to a lesser degree, Uganda in the south.
Relations between Sudan and Egypt have varied but in general
in the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by differences over
such matters as use of the Nile waters. Egypt subscribed to a
stable, militarily viable Sudan because it regarded Sudanese
territory as providing depth to its own strategic defenses,
buffering it from potential threats emanating from sub-Saharan
Africa. The border between Egypt and Sudan was unguarded except
for minimal policing to discourage smuggling and drug
trafficking.
Sudan's Darfur Province contiguous with Chad was unstable
during most of the 1980s. This resulted from the combination of
Chadian combatants operating from bases on Sudanese territory,
Libyan troops and Libyan-supported units of the Islamic Legion
crossing the border in search of rebels, and fighting among Arab
and non-Arab ethnic groups
(see Chad
, ch. 4). Arms were easily
available in the border zone. Conceivable, Libya might desist
from further interference in Darfur following the victory of the
Chadian rebels under Idris Deby with Libyan help in December
1990.
The 1,600-kilometer border between Ethiopia and Sudan was
disturbed because both nations provided each other's insurgents
with military assistance and sanctuary. In the northeast, the
Sudanese government supported the Eritrean People's Liberation
Front that operated from Sudanese territory at Port Sudan. The
Tigray People's Liberation Front were also given facilities at Al
Qadarif. Ethiopia retaliated by providing the SPLA insurgents in
the south with supplies and bases. Sudan periodically accused
Ethiopia of carrying out bombing raids against the estimated
100,000 Eritrean refugees living in camps and villages in eastern
Sudan.
A comparable situation prevailed on Sudan's border with
Uganda. In 1986 and 1987, the president of Uganda, Yoweri
Museveni, accused Sudan of allowing its territory to be used as a
haven in cross-border attacks by 3,000 members of the former
Ugandan army loyal to the deposed dictator, Idi Amin Dada. Sudan,
in turn, charged that SPLA units were receiving aid from Uganda.
In mid-1990, the Sudanese government announced that an agreement
had been reached providing for the establishment of border
security posts and that each country would prohibit its territory
from being used for hostile attacks against the other.
Data as of June 1991
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