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Key Events During Sudan's 21-Year Civil War

Reuters has published an interesting chronology of Sudan's 21-Year Civil War. According to this very brief history, the war began with:

1983 - The government, dominated by northern Arabs, adopts aspects of Islamic sharia law and later martial law. Relations with mostly animist and Christian south deteriorate.

1983-84 - Rebels organise Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and its political arm, Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).

While this was meant to be a very brief summary of recent history the origins of the conflict can be traced back centuries. During the last century the country has been divided since it achieved independence from the British on January 1, 1956. At that time, power and influence was predominantly put into the hands of the Northern (Islamic) Sudanese. The Southern animists and Christians became further alienated by the failure of the new government to implement an agreed upon federal system and civil war ensued.

In 1972, the signing of the Addis Ababa Accords brought peace by granting Southern Sudan autonomy on internal matters and religious freedom. However, in 1983 this peace was shattered and the SPLM was re-organized under Iowa State graduate John Garang after President/Dictator Nimeiri announced his decision to impose traditional Islamic punishments drawn from Sharia on Southerners. [source: GlobalSecurity] Update: a reader notes that the North's 1983 decision corresponded with the discovery of oil in the South.

One additional event that I found very interesting is that the United Nations imposed sanctions on the Islamic government for sponsoring terrorism in 1997. However, in 2001 the sanctions were lifted by the UN just seven days after the Sept. 11 attack on the United States. Considering the state-sponsored genocide in Dafur, this is certainly another, among many, indictments against the United Nations.

Posted by tim at January 2, 2005 1:10 AM

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