Provides background about the war in Sudan, the groups that are fighting, and those minorities caught up in the conflict. The largest country in Africa with a population of 28 million speaking some 400 languages, Sudan has barely known peace since 1956. Millions of Sudanese have been killed or displaced by complex civil wars fueled by religious differences among multiethnic groups as well as struggles over land and political power. This report covers: (1) Sudan’s history in the form of a chronology; (2) institutionalized discrimination against non-Arab peoples as well as the re-emergence of slave trading; (3) factors underlying the ongoing conflict, including early North-South divisions created by British administration, the first civil war and the Addis Ababa agreement which ended it in 1972, and the origins of the second civil war; (4) political rule as reflected by parliament, parties, and militias; (5) the militias’ role in displacing people and disrupting food supplies; (6) governmental collapse and factional fighting; (7) the impact of inter-community warfare, genocide, and ethnocide, especially regarding women, children, and minorities, including the Beja, the Copts, the Nuba, and the people of Darfur; (8) the plight of displaced persons; and (9) and recommendations for ending the turmoil.
