Sudan+History

The History of Sudan Sudan started off as a collection of small, independent kingdoms and principalities in the 1820s. Then Egypt gained control of the northern part of the country, but not the southern part. In 1953 Egypt and the United Kingdom came to an agreement that provided for self-government and self-determination for Sudan. This period started with the inauguration of the first parliament in 1954. With the consent of Egyptian and British government, Sudan achieved independence on January 1, 1956, under a provisional constitution. The constitution did not mention anything about the secular or Islamic character of the state or the federal unitary structure. The Khartoum government ended up going back on their promise to southerners about creating a federal system. This led to a mutiny by people from the south that launched 17 years of civil war from 1955 to 1972.
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After the first civil war ended another broke out in 1983. This second civil war resulted in more than four million people being displaced and more than two million deaths over a time period of two decades. Peace talks started to gain momentum in 2002 when an agreement was reached about the role of state and religion and the right of southern Sudan to self-determination. This agreement is known and the Machakos Protocol, because it was named after the town where the peace talks were held. These peace talks continued until 2003.

The final agreement, North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), was signed in January 2005. This agreement granted southern rebels autonomy for six years and was followed by a referendum on independence for Souther Sudan. In January 2011 the referendum was held and there was overwhelming support for independence. South Sudan became independent on July 9, 2011.

Since South Sudan became independent in 2011, many other conflicts have broken out. Conflict in Darfur has been occurring since 2007. The United Nations took over Darfur's peacekeeping operations when they accused pro-government Arab militias of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab locals. They have struggled to stabilize the situation and the conflict has started to strain relations between Sudan and Chad. They have both accused each other of cross-border incursions, and fear that this conflict could lead a regional war.

Information obtained from: [] [|http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5424.htm#history] []

**© 2012 Bethann Seul - Revised April 25th, 2012 ** **Email: easeul@ilstu.edu ** **Ph: 888-345-1234 **