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Sudan: GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
GOVERNMENT Overview: The national government is an authoritarian regime with the trappings of a parliamentary system. A new constitution, approved in 1998, provides for separate executive, legislative, and judicial functions and contains guarantees of freedom of association, religion, and thought. Some clauses have been in suspension since late 1999. The executive branch is headed by a president, who currently serves also as prime minister and commander in chief of the armed forces. Cabinet members are appointed by the president with approval by parliament. The legislative branch is composed of the 360-seat National Assembly, of which 270 members are popularly elected and 90 specially selected by a National Congress composed of influential interest groups. Parliamentarians serve four-year terms and have been supportive of the government. Sudan’s government is run by an alliance of the military and the National Congress Party, formerly the National Islamic Front, and has generally pursued an Islamist agenda. The current president is Lieutenant General Umar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir, who came to power in a military coup in 1989. He was popularly elected in 1996 and 2000.
Administrative Divisions: Sudan is divided into 26 states (wilayat): A'ali an Nil, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrat, Al Jazirah, Al Khartum, Al Qadarif, Al Wahdah, An Nil al Abyad, An Nil al Azraq, Ash Shamaliyah, Bahr al Jabal, Gharb al Istiwa'iyah, Gharb Bahr al Ghazal, Gharb Darfur, Gharb Kurdufan, Janub Darfur, Janub Kurdufan, Junqali, Kassala, Nahr an Nil, Shamal Bahr al Ghazal, Shamal Darfur, Shamal Kurdufan, Sharq al Istiwa'iyah, Sinnar, and Warab.
Provincial and Local Government: Beginning in 1983, Sudan was divided into five regions in the North and three in the South, each headed by a military governor. In 1997 the eight regions were replaced with 26 states, whose senior officials are appointed by the president. State budgets are also allocated from Khartoum.
Judicial and Legal System: The constitution provides for a High Court, an attorney general, and civil and special religious courts; it also grants recognition to tribal courts. The legal system is based on English common law and Islamic law. As of March 1991, strict Islamic Law was imposed on the country except for the three southern provinces. It applies in the northern states regardless of religious affiliation.
Electoral System: A national electoral commission determines guidelines for elections and referendums. Voting eligibility is defined as 17 years of age. The last national elections, held in December 2000, were boycotted by opposition parties, who viewed them as unfair.
Political Parties: Following the military coup of 1989, all political parties were banned. The constitution of 1998 permits political “associations” provided that they register with the government, accept the legality of the 1998 constitution, and do not practice violence or advocate the overthrow of the present regime. More than 30 parties are registered with the authorities. Among the most important parties and their leaders are: the National Congress Party (NCP) under President al Bashir and party secretary general Ibrahim Ahmed Umar, successor to the former National Islamic Front (NIF); Popular National Congress (PNC) under Hassan al Turabi; Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) under Osman al Mirghani; and Umma Party (UP) under Sadiq al Mahdi. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), a grouping of several opposition parties under the chairmanship of Osman al Mirghani, is based in Asmara, Eritrea. Among its members are the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), under Colonel John Garang, and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), under Mansour Khalid (the SPLM is the political wing of the SPLA).
Mass Media: Sudan has a large number of local and national newspapers. The major national dailies are published in Arabic or English. Sudan Television broadcasts 60 hours of programming a week. The Sudan National Broadcasting Corporation airs radio programming in Arabic, English, French, and Swahili. Radio and television stations are state-controlled entities and serve as outlets for the government viewpoint. Journalists and the papers they serve, although subject to government censorship, operate with more freedom and independence than in most neighboring countries or Arab states. The Voice of Sudan, sponsored by the National Democratic Alliance, broadcasts in Arabic and English. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army issues its own newspapers and journals.
Foreign Relations: Throughout the 1990s, Sudan’s foreign relations have been governed by the desire to spread Islamism throughout eastern Africa and the Middle East, in keeping with the program of the National Islamic Front, and by the course of the civil war between Northerners and Southerners. Relations with Arab countries as well as its neighbors have varied from cordial and supportive to antagonistic and quarrelsome according to the degree that the regime pursued or relaxed its Islamist agenda or pressed or accommodated its Southern opponents. At times, Sudan has supported regional insurgencies against several of its fellow Arab states. In 1995 the government was accused of complicity in the attempted assassination of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Although this action brought down international sanctions upon the country, Egypt eventually withdrew its charges and the matter passed. Relations with Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Uganda have experienced wide swings; in the case of the latter three, the degree of their support or opposition to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and other opposition groups has been the overriding consideration. By the late 1990s, Sudan’s relations with its neighbors were either strained or broken. Since 2000, the al Bashir regime has sought to improve its standing through rapprochement and accommodation. Relations with several European nations have been relatively good, especially those with France. Relations with the United States have been far less so, although there has been some improvement since 2000.
Membership in International Organizations: Sudan holds membership in a number of international organizations. Among them are: the League of Arab States, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and the Nonaligned Movement as well as the United Nations and its subsidiary organizations, including United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, and the World Trade Organization (observer status). Within Africa, Sudan belongs to the African Union and the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development. It is a member of such international financial institutions as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (membership temporarily in abeyance), the African Development Bank, and the Islamic Development Bank, and is one of the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific group of states that receive economic aid from the European Union.
Major International Treaties: Sudan is a signatory of the Convention on Biological Diversity; Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna; Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction; Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer; Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa; and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Sudan is also a party to all twelve international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism, including the African Union’s Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism; Convention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating Terrorism; and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
AllAfrica.com,BARBARA AMONG reports Misgivings are growing in Ugandan government circles over the manner in which the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS), which is mediating ... Rift between UN, Sudan deepens with envoy's expulsion - 24 Oct 2006 Victoria Times Colonist,Pronk's expulsion deepens the rift between President Umar al-Bashir's government and the international community over demands that Sudan allow UN peacekeepers ... Sudan Expels UN Representative - 24 Oct 2006 Prensa Latina,Khartoum, Oct 23 (Prensa Latina) Sudan s official notice to UN special Representative Jan Pronk (Holland) on Sunday, giving him 72 hours to leave the country ... State lawmakers seek to punish Sudan - 24 Oct 2006 Durango Herald,DENVER - Colorado should divest its stock in companies that do business with Sudan as a protest against the genocide in Darfur, a group of students and state ... 'Lost Boys of Sudan' screening Nov. 3 in GR - 24 Oct 2006 Grand Haven Tribune,GRAND RAPIDS — Grand Rapids Community College will hold a free screening of the documentary "Lost Boys of Sudan" on Friday, Nov. ... Challenges Facing Southern Sudanese Returnees - 24 Oct 2006 OhmyNews International,2006 signing of a historic tripartite agreement between the governments of Kenya and Sudan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for ... SECRETARY-GENERAL REVIEWING SUDAN’S REQUEST TO WITHDRAW SPECIAL ... - 24 Oct 2006 PressZoom (press release),The Secretary-General received this morning a letter from the Government of Sudan requesting him to withdraw his Special Representative, Jan Pronk, from the ... South Sudan wants own country communication Code - 24 Oct 2006 Sudan Tribune,Oct 20, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Southern Sudan is mobilising support to get its own international gateway and communication code. Barnabas ... sudan: Plan announced to disarm feared Darfur militia - 24 Oct 2006 Monday Morning,Sudan announced a plan to disarm Darfur’s feared Janjaweed militia, as a human rights report released last week charged that the enormous death toll in the ... Condoleezza Rice On Expulsion Of UN Sudan Envoy - 24 Oct 2006 Scoop.co.nz (press release),SECRETARY RICE: I'm going to talk to Kofi Annan about this later today. The situation in Darfur has been deteriorating and the international ... Canada should lead in Darfur`Responsibility to protect' more than ... - 24 Oct 2006 Toronto Star,...situations have worsened. The government of Sudan has launched a new military offensive against the rebel holdouts. Meanwhile, government ... Call for expression of interest, Southern Sudan - 24 Oct 2006 ReliefWeb (press release),HelpAge International established a presence in Sudan in 1984 in response to the emergency situation caused by a series of famines in the Horn of Africa and ... UN Sudan envoy retains status - 24 Oct 2006 The Australian,JAN Pronk remains the United Nations' special envoy to Sudan with the full support of UN chief Kofi Annan despite being the target of an expulsion order from ... Zimbabwe Rights Groups Plan To Press AU's Konare At Upcoming ... - 24 Oct 2006 Voice of AmericaKonare met with President Robert Mugabe on October 13 and responded to requests for a meeting that his visit concerned African conflicts in Sudan and elsewhere ... Peace Talks Resume; LRA Requests For All Rebels to Assemble in Ri ... - 24 Oct 2006 Uganda Conflict Action Network,The LRA has said it wants all its troops to assemble in Ri-Kwangba in Western Equatorial State, one of the two assembly points in southern Sudan. ... Country Overview: Sudan - Oct 22, 2006 AND,Sudan has an estimated population of 38 million, a land mass of 2.376 million sq km and shares borders with 9 countries (Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African ... US envoy says he has come to Sudan with open heart - Oct 23, 2006 AND,The Advisor of the President of the Republic, Dr Ghazi Salah Al-din, on Thursday said that the American Envoy to the Sudan, Andrew Natsios, has pointed out ... Genocide in Sudan - Oct 22, 2006 ProgressiveU.org,Every week, 8000 innocents are killed in the Darfur region of Sudan. ... Currently, only 6,700 African Union (AU) troops are deployed in Sudan. ... Sudan dictatorial shift and Prok’s expulsion - Oct 22, 2006 Sudan Tribune,In this context, the expulsion of the UN Secretary General Special Envoy to Sudan, Jan Pronk, after a press release by the Sudanese army against him, comes as ... AU welcomes signing of Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement - Oct 23, 2006 AND,The Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission welcomes the signing of the Eastern Sudan Peace Agreement (ESPA), which is signed between the Government ... Sudan lifts emergency state in east after deal - Oct 22, 2006 Reuters AlertNet,KHARTOUM, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Sudan has lifted the state of emergency in its eastern region and released prisoners following a peace deal signed last week ... Pressure builds on businesses tied to Sudan - Oct 21, 2006 MarketWatchSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Companies doing business in Sudan are coming under increasing pressure from the United States, as the international community ... News Roundup - Oct 22, 2006 Monsters and Critics.com,KHARTOUM, Sudan, Oct. ... So far, however, the Sudan government refuses to allow an international peacekeeping force into Darfur. NEW BRIGHTON, Pa., Oct. ... Forum: Help keep Sudan on right path - Oct 21, 2006 Washington Times,Earlier this month, I concluded my tenure as chief of mission at the Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan to the United States. ... This series of profiles of foreign nations is part of the Country Studies Program, formerly the Army Area Handbook Program. The profiles offer brief, summarized information on a country’s historical background, geography, society, economy, transportation and telecommunications, government and politics, and national security. In addition to being featured in the front matter of published Country Studies, they are now being prepared as stand-alone reference aides for all countries in the series, as well as for a number of additional countries of interest. The profiles offer reasonably current country information independent of the existence of a recently published Country Study and will be updated annually or more frequently as events warrant. |
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