South Sudan: A Historical Overview
For centuries the word “Sudan”, which means “Land of the Blacks,” was used to describe the entire region of the South Sahara, from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea. Throughout this time, the country that is now Sudan consisted of a number of independent nations.
In the early nineteenth century Muhammad Ali, a representative of the Ottoman Empire and viceroy of Egypt, invaded and gained control of the northern part of Sudan. In 1881 Mohammed Ahmed, Mahdi, a northern Sudanese holy man who “wanted to defeat the enemies of Islam,” started a rebellion in the south. In January 1885, the Mahdists captured Khartoum, killed the British governor, General Charles Gordon, and gained control of the entire country. In 1896 British and Egyptian forces decided to reconquer Sudan, largely to foil French designs in the region. They defeated the Mahdists at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, overthrew their regime, and signed a condominium agreement to jointly administer Sudan.
Sudan became independent in 1956, although a civil war was already imminent. Unrest developed in the predominantly Christian and animist south over the growing political and economic dominance of northern Islamic Sudan. The country’s first democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup in 1958, ushering in decades of authoritarian rule in Khartoum. Under the Addis Ababa peace treaty of 1972, the government did allow the south to be a self-governing region. There followed a decade of hope for Sudan.The country received aid from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United States for projects. These projects included plans to use water from the Sudd for irrigation as well as sugar production. In 1978 oil was discovered in Bentiu in South Sudan.
The socialist government, which came to power in the North after a military coup in 1969, squandered much of this potential wealth. After initially making some concessions to the South, Ja'far Numayri, under pressure from the conservative and radical fundamentalist influences in his regime and who himself became a born-again Muslim during his tenure, soon began appointing conservative Muslims to government positions and began to impose Islamization policies on the whole country.
Civil war broke out again between the south and government forces; the south was now led by John Garang and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). Brigadier-General Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir seized power in 1989. By the early 1990’s the Bashir regime stepped up the war against the southern rebels, and continued to suppress political opposition. From the late 1980’s through the 1990’s millions of southern civilians were displaced and forced to flee the country, living in refugee camps across east Africa. It was from these refugee camps that many of the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan were relocated into communities across the United States. As a result of this longstanding conflict, basic services such as health care and education have completely collapsed in South Sudan.
However, there are now signs of hope for the region. As a result of peace talks in Kenya in 2002, it was agreed that South Sudan would be granted a six-year period of administrative autonomy and not be subject to sharia law. In January 2005, a Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed between the government and rebel groups led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), designed to bring a permanent end to the fighting. In 2011 a referendum will be held for the people of South Sudan to decide whether to stay as one Sudan, or break away from the north and become an independent country.
Unfortunately conflict continues in Darfur, western Sudan, where militias backed by the Sudanese government are committing crimes against humanity. The government of Sudan and allied Arab militia, called the janjaweed, are implementing a strategy of ethnic-based murder, rape and forcible displacement of civilians in Darfur. A January 2005 United Nations report confirmed that genocide is occurring in Darfur. This conflict risks destabilizing the region, especially the uneasy peace that has ended more than twenty years of war in the south. In addition, the untimely death of South Sudanese vice-president, John Garang in 2005 has robbed the south of its strongest leader.
Project Education Sudan believes that rebuilding the educational infrastructure of South Sudan will pave the way for self-sufficiency, prosperity, health, and autonomy in the region. Project Education Sudan will support indigenous South Sudanese organizations that are working to make primary and secondary education available to all in the region.
