Sudan Politics

Sudan Politics, Population and Geography

General information: Since independence in 1956 (until 1956 – a colony of Great Britain), the country was mainly ruled by various pro-Islamic military governments. Over the past 20 years, civil wars between black Christians and animists from the south and Muslim Arabs from the north have killed at least 1.5 million people, including due to war-induced famine; millions more became refugees.

Geography

Location: North Africa, on the Red Sea coast, between Egypt and Eritrea.
Geographical coordinates: 15° 00′ N. latitude, 30° 00′ E
Reference map: Africa.
Area: total: 2,505,810 km2; land surface area: 2.376 million square kilometers; water surface area: 129,810 km2
Comparative area: slightly more than one quarter of the US area.
Land borders: total length: 7,687 km; with neighboring states: with the Central African Republic 1,165 km, with Chad 1,360 km, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo 628 km, with Egypt 1,273 km, with Eritrea 605 km, with Ethiopia 1,606 km, with Kenya 232 km, with Libya 383 km, with Uganda 435 km.
Coastline: 853 km.
Maritime claims: continental shelf: to a depth of 200 m or to the depth of exploitation. territorial waters: 12 nautical miles.
Climate: tropical in the south; arid, desert in north; rainy season (April to October).
Terrain: mostly flat plain; mountains in the east and west of the country.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Red Sea 0 m; highest point: Mount Chineti 3,187 m.
Natural resources: oil; limited reserves of iron ore, copper, chrome ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold; hydropower resources.
Land use: arable land: 5%; cultivated land: 0%; pastures: 46%; forests and plantations: 19%; others: 30% (1993 est.).
Irrigated land: 19,460 km2 (1993 est.).
Natural hazards: dust storms.
Actual environmental problems: insufficient supplies of drinking water; uncontrolled shooting of wild animals; soil erosion; desertification.
International environmental agreements: member: Biodiversity, Climate change, Desertification, Endangered species, Law of the sea, Nuclear test ban, Ozone layer protection; signed but not ratified: no.
Note to the section “Geography”: the largest country in Africa; The Nile River and its tributaries are of vital importance for Sudan. Population Population: 36,080,191 (July 2001 est.).

Population

Population:
Age structure: under 14: 44.62% (male 8,227,011; female 7,870,783); 15 to 64 years old: 53.29% (male 9,619,218; female 9,608,469); over 65: 2.09% (male 425,898; female 328,994) (2001 est.).
Population growth: 2.79% (2001 est.).
Birth rate: 37.89 newborns / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Mortality: 10.04 deaths / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Migration: 0.04 people / 1000 people (2001 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male/female; under 15: 1.05 male/female; from 15 to 64 years old: 1 male/female; over 65: 1.29 male/female; for the general population: 1.03 male/female (2001 est.).
Child mortality: 68.67 deaths/1000 births (2001 est.).
Life expectancy: for the general population: 56.94 years; men: 55.85 years; women: 58.08 years (2001 est.).
General birth rate: 5.35 children/wives. (2001 est.). Proportion of adult population infected
Proportion of adult population infected with HIV:
Number of people infected with HIV: no data available.
Mortality due to AIDS: no data available.
Nationality: noun: Sudanese; adjective: Sudanese.
Ethnic groups: Black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, Foreigners 2%, Others 1%.
Believers: Sunnis 70% (in the north), adherents of local beliefs 25%, Christians 5% (mainly in the south and in Khartoum).
Languages): Arabic (official), Nubian, Tabedavi, various dialects of the Nile, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanese languages, English; note: there is a systematic “Arabization”.
Literacy: definition: persons aged 15 and over who can read and write; for the general population: 46.1%; men: 57.7%; women: 34.6% (1995 est.).

Politics

conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan;
conventional short form: Sudan; local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan; local short form: As-Sudan; former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
State structure: transitional form; the military junta ended in 1989; the government is dominated by members of the National Islamic Front of Sudan (NIF), a fundamentalist political organization whose legal wing is the National Congress Party (NCP). See politicsezine.com to know more about Sudan Political System.
Capital: Khartoum.
Administrative division: 26 states (wilayah): Aali an-Nil, Al-Bahr-al-Ahmar, Al-Buhairat, Al-Wahdah, Al-Jazeera, Al-Qadarif, Al-Khar-tum, An-Nil-al-Abyad, An-Nil-al-Azraq, Bahr-al-Jabal, Warab, Gharb-al-Istivaya, Gharb-Bahr-al-Ghazal, Gharb-Darfur, Gharb-Kurdufan, Janub-Darfur, Janub-Kurdufan, Junkali, Kassala, Nahr-an-Nil, Sinnar, Shamal-Bahr-al-Ghazal, Shamal-Darfur, Shamal-Kurdufan, Shark-al-Istivaya, Ash-Shamaliyya.
Independence: January 1, 1956 (until 1951 – under the joint administration of Egypt and Great Britain).
National holiday: Independence Day, January 1 (since 1956).
Constitution: adopted 12 April 1973; suspended after coup 6 April 1985; the interim constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended after the coup of 30 June 1989; the operation of the new constitution, adopted on June 30, 1998, was partially suspended on December 12, 1999 by President BASHIR.
Legal system: based on English common law and Islamic law; On January 20, 1991, the now dissolved Revolutionary Command Council introduced Islamic law in the northern states, where it applies to all residents regardless of their religion; there are separate religious courts; accepts compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice, with reservations.
Suffrage: from 17 years old; general, but not mandatory.
head of state: President Lieutenant General Umar Hasan Ahmad al-BASHIR (since October 16, 1993); First Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad TAHA (since February 17, 1998), Second Vice President Moses MACHAR (since February 12, 2001); note – the president is both head of state and head of government;
head of government: President Lt. Gen. Umar Hassan Ahmed al-BASHIR (since 16 October 1993); First Vice President Ali Uthman Muhammad TAHA (since February 17, 1998), Second Vice President Moses MACHAR (since February 12, 2001); note – the president is both head of state and head of government.
government: a council of ministers appointed by the president; note – the government of President BASHIR is dominated by the National Congress Party; elections: the president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term; elections last held 13-23 December 2000 (next to be held in 2005); election results: Umar Hasan Ahmed al-BASHIR elected president; percent of the vote – Umar Hassan Ahmed al-BASHIR 86.5%, Ja’afar Muhammed NU-MAYRI 9.6%, three other candidates together received less than 4% of the vote; note: BASHIR usurped executive power in 1989 and during the first half of the 1990s. headed several interim governments until in March 1996 he was elected to the first presidential term by popular vote.
Legislature: a unicameral National Assembly (400 members, 275 of which are elected by popular vote, and 125 are elected by an assembly representing various social groups, known as the National Congress); elections: last held 3-23 December 2000 (no date available for next elections); election results: no data; only a few parties participated in the 2000 elections; note: On December 12, 1999, President BASHIR dissolved the National Assembly following an internal power struggle between the President and Speaker of the National Assembly, Hasan al-TURABI.
Judiciary: Supreme Court; Special revolutionary courts.
Political parties and leaders: a 1998 law, revised in 2000, allows political “associations”; to gain government approval, parties must recognize the constitution and refrain from propaganda or violence against the regime; the National Congress Party [Ibrahim Ahmed UMAR], the People’s National Congress (Hassan al-TURABI) and a small number of small pro-government parties are allowed.
Political influence groups and their leaders: National Congress Party [Ibrahim Ahmed UMAR] (legal organization of the National Islamic Front [NIF]), People’s National Congress (Hasan al-TURABI); Umma (Sadiq al-MAHDI [Sadiq al-MAHDI]); Democratic Unionist Party (Muhammed Uthman AL-MIRGHANI); National Democratic Alliance (Mohammed Usman AL-MIRGHANI, Chairman); Sudan People’s Liberation Army (Dr. John GARANG).
Participation in international organizations: ABEDA, ACP, AGOV, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IGAD, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, NAM, OAU, OIC, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNU, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (observer).
US Mission: Chief of Mission: Ambassador Mahdi Ibrahim MAHAMMAD (recalled to Khartoum in August 1998); office: 2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008; phone: [1] (202) 338-8565; fax: [1] (202) 667-2406.
US Diplomatic Mission: members of the US embassy in Khartoum were taken out of the country in February 1996 for security reasons and placed in the US embassies in Nairobi (Kenya) and Cairo (Egypt), from where they periodically visit Khartoum; US Embassy in Khartoum: Address: Sharia Abdul Latif Avenue; postal address: R. O. Box 699, Khartoum; APO AE 09829; phone: [249] (11) 774611 or 774700; fax: [249] (11) 774137; US Embassy in Nairobi (Kenya); Address: Interim Office Building, Mombasa Road, Nairobi; mailing address: P. O. Box 30137, Box 21 A, Unit 64100, APO AE 09831; phone: [254] (2) 751613; fax: [254] (2) 743204; US Embassy in Cairo (Egypt); Address: 8, Kamel El-Din Salah Street, Garden City, Cairo; mailing address: Unit 64900, APO AE 09839-4900; phone: [20] (2) 3557371; fax: [20] (2) 3573200.
Flag Description: three equal horizontal stripes of red (top), white and black with a green isosceles triangle (base adjacent to the hoist). Economy

Sudan Politics