SUDAN
SUDAN stretches on 2,505,000 km, has a population of about 40 millions and is located between Egypt in the North, Uganda and Kenya in the South, Chad in the West and Ethiopia, Eritrea and 1200 km of sea coast on the Red Sea in the East. SUDAN is an independent state since 01/01/1956. Northern SUDAN is a part of the EGYPTIAN Muslim Arab civilization while the South is a part of Black Africa and is influenced by the Christian Ethiopian culture.
Only about 8 millions are from Arab origin and the rest from African origin. About 3.5 millions black SUDANese from the South are Christians. SUDAN is practically ruled by the Arab Sunnite Muslim minority. The SUDANESE society is, traditionally, based on Arab supremacy, Islamic extremity and abuse of other groups, mainly through slave trade and slavery which exists in SUDAN up to nowadays.
In 1879 an Islamic movement, The Mahdiya, ceased power from the EGYPTIAN rulers of SUDAN under Muhammad Ibn Abdallah leadership. With the help of British forces, commanded by Gen’ Charles George Gordon (Lord Gordon of Khartoum), Egypt recaptured Khartoum in 1885. (Mahdi means in Arabic a spiritual master. In the Islamic theology the appearance of a Mahdi has a similar meaning like the appearance of Messiah in Christianity). The Islamic Mahdiya movement continued to supervise and influence the social life in SUDAN up to 1898.
Since the independence SUDAN is most of the time in civil wars with Christians in the South or non Arab tribes in the West of the country. The first Civil war against the South began already before the independence in 1955 and lasted up to 1972.
After 11 years a second civil war erupted in Southern SUDAN in 1983, between Muslim Arabs from the North and local African Christian tribes in the South. More than 2 million people have died and at least 4 million have been driven from their homes. Many victims of the violence and related famines have been Christian civilians. The atrocities were of the worst committed in the world after World War II.
When a peace treaty was agreed on, on 01/09/2005, to share political power and the wealth of the oil rich South, the Arab SUDANESE were already engaged in another atrocity against fellow Sunnite Muslims in Darfur region, who happened to be non Arabs but black Africans and dared to demand political rights and a sort of autonomy. According to UN estimate more the 300,000 were already killed since 2003 and more the 1 million displaced and the atrocities are going on despite the intervention of the international community.
Dr John Garang, the Christian leader of the South and the Vice President according to the peace treaty with the South, died in a “mysterious” helicopter crash on 08/01/2005, less then 7 months after his nomination. SUDAN is an extremely dangerous country to the African majority – Christian and Muslims alike.
Under the influence of the IRANIAN Islamic revolution, in 1979, the National Islamic Front, headed by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi, took over SUDAN in a bloodless coup and became an ally to Iran in promoting Islamic revolution all over the Middle East and the Muslim World.
SUDAN sheltered Al Qaeda in its early stages of rebuilding and reforming its international network in the years 1992-1996. Today (04/2008) SUDAN is engaged in a conflict with neighbor Chad after she blamed Chad of sheltering Darfur insurgents and supported a military coup against the Chadian regime, that failed in 02/2008. Border clashes on the SUDAN-Chadian border and verbal attacks occur on daily basis.
SUDAN was always a dangerous country but the ideological alliance with Iran made SUDAN a part of the Anti-American axis (Axis of Evil in American terms) and more dangerous to the stability of East Africa and the Middle East. (See – Dangerous SUDAN )
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