Hi there. i got given the task to write an essay on Sudan. The question was, "What caused the new State of South Sudan in july 2011." if you have any suggestions, that would be great. But its still rough.
The newest state in the world, South Sudan, was created on July 9th 2011. The creation of the Republic of South Sudan began with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, after a six-year peace process. Before Sudan became independent in 1956, Sudan had been a British- Egyptian Colony since 1899. During this time, the British had started to colonize most of Africa, and chose to support the minority ethnic group in the certain countries. In Sudan, they of course chose the Arabs.
In the biggest country in Africa, where 41.1 million Arabs and Africans intertwine, oil is rich and people are working hard to keep their families healthy. One would expect the country to be doing fine, except for the fact that the average life expectancy is 52 years of age.
Ever since Sudan became independent, their political situation has become more and more unstable. The people of North Sudan were predominantly Arab and Muslim, where as the people of the South were more African and Christian. The differences of their tribes and ethic groups has led to the conflict, violence, disruption, and mass murdering that is STILL going on in Sudan today.
Sudan started to try be more economically stable and focused a lot on agriculture and what resources they had as a country to offer. Unfortunately, the economy had deteriorated and the living conditions had become very bad. A short while later, a civil war started, as the Southerners were upset about the Islamic penal code that was introduced in 1983 and wanted independence from the North. This displaced 2 million people; nearly splitting the country in two, with the Arabs being favored by the British in the North, and the Africans in the South. The Arab Janjaweed Militia has been attacking the Africans and killing and driving them out of their territory. The government has denied any links to the militia attacks, although Omar al-Bashir has frequently been accused of supporting the militia.
The president was charged of many accounts including Genocide:
Killing members of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, causing these groups serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about these groups' physical destruction. Crimes against humanity: Murder, extermination, forcible transfer, rape, torture. War crimes: Attacks on civilians in Darfur and pillaging towns and villages.
Bashir's attitude towards the conflict seemed very relaxed, and he almost acted as if nothing was wrong, and a genocide wasn't taking place right under his nose. "The Darfur problem is just traditional conflict over resources," says the president. But, It seems like Bashir is either softening with age, or he realizes that Sudan can't afford another war. Letting the south go may be the price he is willing to pay to remain in power in the north. Although, the man is the type of person who will do anything to stay on the top, no matter what it costs his people.
Unfortunately, Sudan doesn't have good relationships with other countries besides Iran, who is Sudan's main financial supporter. Due to the extremist Islamic and fundamentalist movements, the relationships with Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, and other countries deteriorated and Sudan remained totally isolated. Many conflicts began between boarders due to more Islamic law and religious issues. It eventually became so bad that in 1997, the United States forbid any US company to invest in Sudan.
It is estimated there are 800,000 to one million South Sudanese in Sudan. But unfortunately there are some that do not want to leave their homes in the north. They were born there, raised there, and most of them have done nothing wrong. They were just ordinary people living their lives and then get dragged into a huge racial mess that seems to be going on all over the world! Even if the Africans loose their Sudanese nationality, they still have to move, as they have no future in the north.
Now, you may ask what the situation is in Sudan at the moment. The people have been told that they must go to the South, but no one has arrived to fetch them. They are now stuck, waiting under the blazing hot sun, with nothing but their few positions left. They have to make shelter out of wood and plastic. They are poor, tired people with no money and they don't know what to do. Their children are out of school since they were told they would be taken back home, and people are living in complete misery, with nothing to eat.
There is a joint African Union-Un peacekeeping mission called Unamid that seems to be "controlling" the situation in Sudan.
According to the UN's outgoing military commander General Martin Agwai, the conflict was effectively over. He says that at the moment we should mainly be worried about isolated and banditry attacks and. The UN has worked very hard to try and maintain peace and have tried to create peace talks to calm the situation down.
Up until now, the government was very involved in the country's economy. All of the important sectors in the country were controlled by the government, except for agriculture. The taxation policy of the government was always very unstable and obscure and the state budget has always been very unstable. However, financial experts, expect this to change now that the government has started a privatization and liberalization process.
To conclude, I would like to state that the reason for the creation of South Sudan was purely ethnical, and due to discrimination and basic religious differences, the new state was formed. The Arabs and the Africans conflict can be traced back many years and no amount of peacekeepers can prevent the people from saying and doing what they want. But the fact is, remorseless leaders will do everything in their power, ranging from propaganda to massacres to make sure that their view is seen as most important, and that no one will get in their way.
