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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
Dinka spearfisherman contemplates the White
Nile as a food source.
THE FIRST AND OVERWHELMING impression of Sudan is its physical
vastness and ethnic diversity, elements that have shaped its
regional history from time immemorial. The country encompasses
virtually every geographical feature, from the harsh deserts of
the north to the rain forests rising on its southern borders.
Like most African countries, Sudan is defined by boundaries that
European powers determined at the end of the nineteenth century.
The British colonial administration in Sudan, established in
1899, emphasized indirect rule by tribal
shaykhs (see Glossary)
and chiefs, although tribalism had been considerably weakened as
an administrative institution during the Mahdist period (1884-
98). This loosening of loyalties exacerbated problems in
governmental structure and administration and in the peoples'
identification as Sudanese. To this day, loyalty remains divided
among family, clan, ethnic group, and religion, and it is
difficult to forge a nation because the immensity of the land
permits many of Sudan's ethnic and tribal groups to live
relatively undisturbed by the central government.
The Nile is the link that runs through Sudan, and influences
the lives of Sudan's people, even though many of them farm and
herd far from the Nile or its two main tributaries, the Blue Nile
and the White Nile. Not only do nomads come to the river to water
their herds and cultivators to drain off its waters for their
fields, but the Nile facilitates trade, administration, and
urbanization. Consequently, the confluence of the Blue Nile and
the White Nile became the administrative center of a vast
hinterland because the area commanded the river, its commerce,
and its urban society. This location enabled the urban elites to
control the scattered and often isolated population of the
interior while enjoying access to the peoples of the outside
world.
Although linked by dependence on the Nile, Sudan's population
is divided by ethnic, linguistic, and religious differences. Many
Sudanese in the north claim Arab descent and speak Arabic, but
Sudanese Arabs are highly differentiated. Over many generations,
they have intermingled in varying degrees with the indigenous
peoples. Arabic is Sudan's official language (with Arabic and
English the predominant languages in the south), but beyond
Khartoum and its two neighboring cities of Omdurman and Khartoum
North a variety of languages is spoken. A more unifying factor is
Islam, which has spread widely among the peoples of northern
Sudan. But, once again, the
Sunni (see Glossary)
Muslims of
northern Sudan form no monolithic bloc. Some, especially in the
urban centers, are strictly orthodox Muslims, while others,
mostly in the rural areas, are attracted more to Sufism, an
Islamic mystical tendency, in their search for Allah. Within this
branch and tendency of Islam are a host of religious sects with
their own Islamic rituals and syncretistic adaptations.
The Sudanese of the south are of African origin. Islam has
made only modest inroads among these followers of traditional
religions and of Christianity, which was spread in the twentieth
century by European missionaries, and Arabic has not replaced the
diverse languages of the south. The differences between north and
south have usually engendered hostility, a clash of cultures that
in the last 150 years has led to seemingly endless violence. The
strong regional and cultural differences have inhibited nation
building and have caused the civil war in the south that has
raged since independence, except for a period of peace between
1972 and 1983. The distrust between Sudanese of the north and
those of the south--whether elite or peasants--has deepened with
the long years of hostilities. And the cost of war has drained
valuable national resources at the expense of health, education,
and welfare in both regions.
Data as of June 1991
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