Sudan's People and the Country of 'South Sudan' from Civil War to Independence, 1955-2011

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Sudan's conflicts are rooted in the creation of the state. During Sudan's Anglo-Egyptian colonial rule, the Arabic Muslim north and Christian and animist south were ruled as two distinct entities. The north was modernized but the south neglected, creating parallel entities which overlooked the diversity and historical interrelations between the areas.

Sudan's conflicts are rooted in the creation of the state. A 1947 policy change to unify them meant that when the country was granted independence in 1956, Sudan was left with a heavily unified and centralized state, ruled from the north. The south, which already had social and political grievances, feared it would be dominated by the Arabic and Islamist North. Promises to create a federal system were soon broken.

In 1955, tensions flared up and led to the outbreak of the first Sudanese civil war. The conflict, which featured successive coups and regime changes, ended with the 1972 Addis Abeba agreement and another promise of political autonomy for the South. Disputes over the discovery of oil in the south in 1979, together with President Nimeiry's decision to implement Islamic Sharia law for the whole of Sudan and end southern autonomy, led to a new surge in civil violence in 1983.