Sudanese Arabs. South Sudan - Black Africa that decided to secede from the Arab world

Central Asian Arabs (Tajik Arabs)

• Islam (Sunnism Shiism)

Pan-Arabism LAS Conquests Arabization Nationalism

Sudanese(Sudanese Arabs) - Arab people, the main population of Sudan. The total number of over 18 million people. Including in Sudan - more than half of the population, and in the north their share is less than 70% percent. In other countries: Chad: - 1.29 million, 5 thousand each in Rwanda and Zaire.

Story

Since the 8th century, Arabic writing began to spread in Sudan, and the states of Sudan began to join Arabic culture, including Islam. As a result, areas of Northern Sudan become vassal states paying tribute to the Muslim rulers of Egypt. In the 16th century, in the Nile Valley, we already see the feudal state Sennar, the main Negroid agricultural population of which was gradually Arabized. In South Sudan, populated mainly by Negroid tribes, pre-feudal relations still persisted (Fadlalla M. H. 2004: P. 13 - 15).

Religion

The penetration of Islam into the territory of Sudan went in several ways. First, through the efforts of Arab missionaries, usually members of the tariqahs. Secondly, by the Sudanese themselves, who were trained in Egypt or Arabia. As a result, the Sudanese version of Islam developed under the distinct influence of the Sufi orders, with its devotion of ordinary Muslims to the head of the order and adherence to ascetic practices.

At the beginning of the 19th century, a powerful movement of the tariqa al-Khatmiya (or Mirganiyya, after its founder) developed.

In 1881, the messianic movement of the Sudanese religious reformer Muhammad Ahmad began, who declared himself the Mahdi messiah. His followers began to call themselves the Ansar. So the second most influential Sufi order appeared in Sudan - al-Ansar.

The substrate influence of the Nubian languages ​​is traced (Rodionov M.A. 1998: p. 242).

Lifestyle and life

Today, most of the Arabs and the Kushites close to them both territorially and ethnically - the Beja - are city dwellers and cotton farmers. Only a modest part of the Arabs and the Beja continues to roam with their herds.

But even this share cannot be called single. Camel breeders, goat herders and the so-called "cowboys" - baggara, who are engaged in cattle breeding, differ in the organization of work, in the culture of life, even in appearance. An ancient breed of horses is bred in Nubia, and riding camels are bred in the Beja and Sahara deserts. Among the Arabs, there is still a division into tribes with their own cultural characteristics, various dialects. This trend continues even in cities where they prefer to marry their fellow tribesmen. The kinship system is bifurcative-collateral (there are relatives on the mother's side of the father; collateral and direct relatives are distinguished). The basis of the tribal organization is a family-related group that has a common ancestor in the male line and is bound by the customs of mutual assistance, blood feud; patrilateral orthocousin marriage is preferred). Several groups make up a subdivision of a tribe or the tribe itself, led by a leader. social relations traditionally expressed as declared consanguineous (Rodionov 1998: 201), (Abu-Lughod L. 1986: P. 81-85).

Farming in Sudan presents a particular problem. Only 3% of the territory is arable, in the north the Nile is the only water source. Every piece of land is carefully cultivated. Shadufs are still used (Human Development Report 2006: p. 164).

The national cuisine of the Arabs of Sudan is close to the Egyptian one. Traditional dishes: legume ful with vegetables, meat, spices, porridge or pilaf. Alcoholic drinks are prohibited, in the past (probably now) they were made from sorghum, millet.

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Notes

Links

• Russian peacekeepers in Darfur,.

Literature

• Kobishchanov T. Yu. Christian communities in the Arab-Ottoman world (XVII - the first third of XIX in.). M. : Nauka, 2003. S.6 - 19.
• Abu-Lughod L. Veiled Sentiments: Honor and Poetry in a Bedouin Society. Berkeley and Los Angeles: Social Science, 1986, pp. 81-85.
• Rodionov M.A. Arabs // which exists for the subject of the article. An example of using the template is in articles on similar topics.

An excerpt characterizing the Sudanese (Arabs of Sudan)

Pierre met the old count. He was embarrassed and upset. That morning, Natasha told him that she had refused Bolkonsky.
“Trouble, trouble, mon cher,” he said to Pierre, “trouble with these girls without a mother; I'm so sad that I came. I will be frank with you. They heard that she refused the groom, without asking anyone for anything. Let's face it, I've never been very happy about this marriage. Let's suppose he good man, but well, there would be no happiness against the will of the father, and Natasha will not be left without suitors. Yes, all the same, this has been going on for a long time, and how could it be without a father, without a mother, such a step! And now she's sick, and God knows what! It’s bad, count, it’s bad with daughters without a mother ... - Pierre saw that the count was very upset, tried to turn the conversation to another subject, but the count again returned to his grief.
Sonya entered the living room with a worried face.
– Natasha is not quite healthy; she is in her room and would like to see you. Marya Dmitrievna is at her place and asks you too.
“But you are very friendly with Bolkonsky, it’s true that he wants to convey something,” said the count. - Oh, my God, my God! How good it was! - And taking hold of the rare temples of gray hair, the count left the room.
Marya Dmitrievna announced to Natasha that Anatole was married. Natasha did not want to believe her and demanded confirmation of this from Pierre himself. Sonya told this to Pierre while she was escorting him through the corridor to Natasha's room.
Natasha, pale and stern, sat beside Marya Dmitrievna, and from the very door met Pierre with a feverishly brilliant, inquiring look. She did not smile, did not nod her head at him, she only looked stubbornly at him, and her glance only asked him whether he was a friend or an enemy like everyone else in relation to Anatole. Pierre himself obviously did not exist for her.
“He knows everything,” said Marya Dmitrievna, pointing to Pierre and turning to Natasha. "He'll tell you if I told the truth."
Natasha, like a hunted, driven animal, looks at the approaching dogs and hunters, looked first at one, then at the other.
“Natalya Ilyinichna,” Pierre began, lowering his eyes and feeling a sense of pity for her and disgust for the operation that he was supposed to do, “whether it’s true or not, it should be all the same to you, because ...
So it's not true that he's married!
- No, its true.
Has he been married for a long time? she asked, “honestly?”
Pierre gave her his word of honor.
– Is he still here? she asked quickly.
Yes, I saw him just now.
She was obviously unable to speak and made signs with her hands to leave her.

Pierre did not stay to dine, but immediately left the room and left. He went to look for Anatole Kuragin in the city, at the thought of which now all his blood rushed to his heart and he experienced difficulty in taking breath. On the mountains, among the gypsies, at the Comoneno - he was not there. Pierre went to the club.
Everything in the club went on in its usual order: the guests who had gathered for dinner sat in groups and greeted Pierre and talked about the city news. The footman, having greeted him, reported to him, knowing his acquaintance and habits, that a place had been left for him in a small dining room, that Prince Mikhail Zakharych was in the library, and Pavel Timofeich had not yet arrived. One of Pierre's acquaintances, between a conversation about the weather, asked him if he had heard about the kidnapping of Rostova by Kuragin, which they were talking about in the city, was it true? Pierre, laughing, said that this was nonsense, because now he was only from the Rostovs. He asked everyone about Anatole; he was told by one that he had not yet come, the other that he would dine to-day. It was strange for Pierre to look at this calm, indifferent crowd of people who did not know what was going on in his soul. He walked around the hall, waited until everyone had gathered, and without waiting for Anatole, he did not have dinner and went home.
Anatole, whom he was looking for, dined with Dolokhov that day and consulted with him about how to fix the spoiled case. It seemed to him necessary to see Rostova. In the evening he went to his sister's to talk with her about the means of arranging this meeting. When Pierre, having traveled all over Moscow in vain, returned home, the valet reported to him that Prince Anatol Vasilyich was with the countess. The drawing room of the Countess was full of guests.
Pierre did not greet his wife, whom he did not see after his arrival (she was more than ever hated by him at that moment), entered the living room and, seeing Anatole, went up to him.
“Ah, Pierre,” said the countess, going up to her husband. “You don’t know what position our Anatole is in ...” She stopped, seeing in her husband’s head lowered, in his shining eyes, in his resolute gait, that terrible expression of fury and strength, which she knew and experienced on herself after the duel with Dolokhov.
“Where you are, there is debauchery, evil,” Pierre said to his wife. “Anatole, let’s go, I need to talk to you,” he said in French.
Anatole looked back at his sister and obediently got up, ready to follow Pierre.
Pierre, taking him by the hand, pulled him towards him and left the room.
- Si vous vous permettez dans mon salon, [If you allow yourself in my living room,] - Helen said in a whisper; but Pierre, without answering her, left the room.
Anatole followed him with his usual, youthful gait. But there was concern on his face.
Entering his office, Pierre closed the door and turned to Anatole without looking at him.
- You promised Countess Rostova to marry her and wanted to take her away?
“My dear,” answered Anatole in French (as the whole conversation went), I do not consider myself obliged to answer interrogations made in such a tone.
Pierre's face, already pale, was contorted with fury. He grabbed Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his large hand and began to shake from side to side until Anatole's face assumed a sufficient expression of fear.
“When I say that I need to talk to you ...” Pierre repeated.
- Well, that's stupid. BUT? - said Anatole, feeling the collar button torn off with cloth.
“You are a scoundrel and a scoundrel, and I don’t know what keeps me from the pleasure of crushing your head with this,” said Pierre, “speaking so artificially because he spoke French. He took the heavy paperweight in his hand and raised it menacingly and immediately put it hastily in its place.
Did you promise to marry her?
- I, I, I did not think; However, I never promised, because ...
Pierre interrupted him. Do you have her letters? Do you have letters? Pierre repeated, moving towards Anatole.
Anatole looked at him and at once, thrusting his hand into his pocket, took out his wallet.
Pierre took the letter handed to him and, pushing the table that stood on the road, fell on the sofa.
“Je ne serai pas violent, ne craignez rien, [Don’t be afraid, I won’t use violence,” said Pierre, responding to Anatole’s frightened gesture. “Letters - once,” said Pierre, as if repeating a lesson for himself. "Second," he continued after a moment's silence, getting up again and beginning to walk, "you must leave Moscow tomorrow."

Basic geographic data

Christianity came to Sudan in the 6th century and was the religion of the early medieval kingdom of Nubia. After the capture of the country by the Arabs, Islamization began, almost completely ending in the 15th century. Christianity in the south and in the Nuba mountains is the result of missionaries in the 19th century.

Sudan in antiquity

Northern Sudan is the biblical land of Kush. There existed ancient kingdom Meroe, who fought with Egypt and even captured it.

At the end of the 4th millennium BC. the kings of the 1st Dynasty of Egypt conquered Upper Nubia south of Aswan, spreading the Egyptian cultural influence on the African peoples who lived along the banks of the Nile. In the following centuries, Nubia was subjected to regular military expeditions from Egypt in search of slaves or building materials for the royal tombs, who destroyed most Egyptian-Nubian culture. The interactions that arose from the subjugation and colonization of Nubia led to an ever-increasing African influence on the arts, culture and religions of dynastic Egypt.

During a time known to Egyptologists as the First Intermediate Period (c. 2130-1938), a new wave of pastoral immigrants came to Nubia from Libya. These people were able to settle on the Nile and assimilate the Nubians who lived there without opposition from Egypt. After the fall of the 6th Dynasty (c. 2150), Egypt experienced over a hundred years of weakness and internal unrest, giving the immigrants to Nubia time to develop their own distinct civilization with unique crafts, architecture, and a social structure potentially more dynamic than civilizations in the north.

With the advent of the 11th Dynasty (2081), Egypt regained its strength and launched an onslaught south into Nubia, at first sending only sporadic expeditions to collect tribute, but under the 12th Dynasty (1938-1756) actually captured Nubia as far as the city of Semna on south. To counter the resistance of the Nubians, a chain of forts was built on the Nile. At the same time, the cultural influence of Egypt on Nubia was minimal.

The Egyptianization of local culture occurred during the Second Interregnum (c. 1630-1540 BC), when many Nubians were mercenaries in Egyptian army who fought against the Hyksos. On the other hand, the presence of these mercenaries in Egypt contributed to the growth of African influence in Egyptian culture. After the restoration of independence, under Thutmose I (reigned 1493-1482 BC), Egypt captured Nubia, which was divided into two provinces. The center of the northern one was Elephantine, the center of the southern one was the city of Napata. Egyptian colonies appeared in administrative centers and a layer of Egyptianized Nubians.

Nubia was valuable as a territory of transit trade between Egypt, the Red Sea coast and Central Africa. It also held reserves of gold and emeralds and large areas fertile land.

When another crisis occurred in Egypt at the end of the New Kingdom (11th century BC), the governors of Kush, supported by their Nubian armies, became kings virtually independent of Egyptian control. By the 8th century B.C. The kings of Kush came from the hereditary ruling families of Egyptianized Nubian chieftains, who possessed neither political nor family ties with Egypt. Under one of them, Kashte, Kush captured Upper (i.e. southern) Egypt, and under his son Piankhi (750-719 BC), all of Egypt up to the Mediterranean coast.

In 671 BC The Assyrians invaded Egypt and defeated the Kushites. In 654 BC the Kushites were driven south to their capital, Napata. The country was separated from Egypt by barren hills south of Elephantine. Kush continued to control the middle reaches of the Nile for another thousand years. Its unique Egyptian-Nubian culture, with its strong African overlays, was preserved while Egypt came under Persian, Greek and Roman influence.

The economy of the state was based on the extraction of gold and precious stones and on transit trade. The Kushites developed their own script, first based on Egyptian hieroglyphs, then their own, and finally alphabetic. They worshiped the Egyptian gods but did not abandon their own. They buried their kings in pyramids, but not in the Egyptian model. Shortly after the retreat from Egypt, the capital was moved south from Napata to Meroë, where the kingdom was more exposed to established African cultures from the south at a time when its ties to Egypt were rapidly fading.

In the next few centuries, the kingdom fell into decline, and in 350 AD. the king of Aksum from Ethiopia destroyed it completely, destroying the capital and all the cities along the Nile. The next 200 years is a dark period in history. Archaeologists have not yet determined which peoples lived at that time in Nubia. But the material culture inherited from the Kushites continued to prevail. Local rulers, in alliance with desert nomads, attacked the Roman settlements in Upper Egypt several times until the Romans drove them very far to the south.

Sudan in the Middle Ages

In the 6th century, Christian missionaries arrived in Nubia. At this time, the country was divided into three states, the capital of the southernmost of which was on the site of modern Khartoum. Between 534 and 575, these kingdoms were converted to Christianity through the work of the missionary Julian and his successor Longinus. Christian churches sprang up along the Nile, and ancient temples were renovated to accommodate Christian services. Records of this give material about the history of Sudan at that time.

After the capture of Egypt in 639, the Arabs tried to capture the Nubian kingdoms with the help of small raiding parties. After several years of border warfare, a strong army was sent to the south, which suffered heavy losses, but concluded a peace treaty with the Nubian kings that lasted almost 600 years. The Arabs had no intention of seizing territories south of Aswan.

In the 9th to 12th centuries, the rulers of Egypt encouraged the nomadic Bedouin tribes to move south to get rid of them. Islamized local nomadic tribes also seized territories in these places. The Mamluk rulers of Egypt from the middle of the 13th century were forced to send military expeditions to the south against the bandit Bedouin tribes that controlled Nubia. These tribes and Egyptian troops plundered the remnants of the Nubian kingdom of Makura, undermining its viability.

In the 15th century, the Arabs began to migrate south uncontrollably, mixing with the local population (mainly by capturing local women). Christianity was thus supplanted by Islam, and the remnants of the centralized kingdom disappeared and were replaced by tribal institutions. The last small Christian kingdom of Alva in the far south maintained its independence from the Arabs. It was destroyed around 1500 as a result of an attack by an alliance of Arab tribes.

In its place a tribal state arose fanj, whose origin is unclear, which successfully resisted the Arabs in the 16th and 17th centuries. Muslim missionaries, mainly from Sufi sects, actively worked in it, converting the aristocracy and the common people to Islam.

Sudan in modern times

At the end of the 17th and throughout the 18th century, the kingdom of the Fanj gradually fell into decay, fell apart and degraded culturally under the influence of Islamized nomadic tribes that seized power in its individual regions. In 1821, the governor of Egypt, Muhammad Ali, conquered Eastern Sudan. The son of Muhammad-Ali, Ismail, who commanded the military expedition, was killed, but by 1826 the resistance was crushed, and all of present-day Sudan was under the rule of Egypt. The Egyptian governor Ali Khurshid-aga carried out a tax reform, established a civilized order, agreed with spiritual leaders, and in 1838 left the country in greater order than it was before him.

During the 19th century, European powers pressed the Egyptian authorities to stamp out the slave trade and secure the safety of European merchants in the Sudan. The effectiveness of these measures was very weak. In 1869, the ruler of Egypt sent a military expedition to Sudan under the leadership of the Englishman Baker, who managed to restore order in the east of Sudan, but not in its west. There, the slave traders consolidated, united, and after the resignation of Baker, their leader Zubair forced the Egyptian khedive appoint him governor of Sudan.

Throughout the late 19th century, the Egyptian authorities continued to fight slave traders and semi-savage independent kings in South Sudan, hiring English and other Western specialists for this. At the end of the 19th century, Eduard Schnitzer, who went down in history as Emin Pasha, worked in the British administration. He was governor of the southern province of Sudan.

Associations of dervishes play an important role in the religious and political life of Sudan - tarikats. In 1881, Muhammad Rauf Pasha, appointed governor of Sudan, declared himself mahdi- a divine messenger. An army of Muslim fanatics gathered around him, destroying the Egyptian troops and the English administration and seizing the whole country. As a result, a theocratic state arose under the rule of Islamic fanatic dervishes from the sect Mahdia, which started a war with all its neighbors, attacked Egypt, Ethiopia and neighboring British possessions. Only by 1894 did the combined British-Egyptian forces manage to clear the country of them, after which Sudan was governed by their joint administration until 1956.

Jewish geographers L. G. Benzhe (1856–1936) and R. Franchetti (1890–1935) explored Sudan in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 1920s, Sudanese nationalism arose, closely related to Egyptian. In 1924, anti-British riots were organized, which had to be suppressed by force. During the Second World War and after it, Sudan was one of the places where the British authorities sent captured LEHI fighters to do time. In the 1940s, the tarikats created political parties associated with them, which determine the policy of the country to this day.

In 1956 Sudan became independent and joined the Arab League. In 1958, a military coup took place there, parliament was dispersed and political parties were banned. Sudan concluded an agreement with Egypt on the division of the waters of the Nile. The Sudanese dictator received the support of the Egyptian dictator Nasser, including the military. The government launched a policy of Islamization in South Sudan that sparked an uprising in 1962 (see below). Egyptian troops helped to suppress the uprising of the southerners. This crisis caused the fall of the military dictatorship and the rise of a civilian government; however, it did not change anything either in politics or in the economy.

In the 1950s and 60s, Sudan sought to maintain good relations with the West, in connection with which it announced the recognition of UN Resolution 242 after the Six Day War. In 1969, there was a military coup, and the dictator Nimeiri sent a military contingent to Egypt during the Yom Kippur War (1973). In 1970, all banks in the country were nationalized, but in 1975 the government was forced to allow foreign banks to operate.

In the 1970s, the Nimeiri regime tried to modernize the country along socialist lines. But all attempts failed due to incompetent leadership and corruption. By the end of the decade, Sudan was in an acute economic crisis and heavily indebted. The Nimeiri dictatorship sought support from the Muslim Brotherhood, saturating the state apparatus with its members and pursuing a policy of Islamization. In 1986, the Nimeiri regime was overthrown in a military coup.

Sudan did not object to President Sadat's peace talks with Israel in 1977-78. After the conclusion of the peace treaty, Sudan did not break off diplomatic relations with Egypt. Sudan opposed the so-called "secondary boycott", that is, attempts by Arab countries to boycott all identified as "Zionist accomplices", that is, countries and firms that traded with Israel.

In 1989, another coup took place, and power was seized by Islamic extremists. They abolished the constitution, dispersed parliament, and banned political parties and trade unions. In 1990, the Bank of Sudan announced its intention to Islamize the entire banking system countries. Since 1993, the country has been ruled by President (dictator) Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir. In 1998, a course was officially announced for the introduction of Sharia as the basis of the laws of the country. In 1999, parties were re-established - the ruling Islamist party and its satellites (the Umma Party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - North).

In the 1990s, Sudan became a base for Islamist terrorist organizations, both Sunni (Al-Qaeda and others) and Shiite, backed by the Iranian government. The US State Department officially added Sudan to the list of states that support terror. Groups were based there that tried to assassinate Egyptian President Mubarrak and there were industrial enterprises for the production of weapons of mass destruction. Support for terrorist groups that acted against the governments of other African countries led to a deterioration in Sudan's relations with these countries - primarily with Egypt.

By the end of the 20th century, Sudan was one of the poorest countries in Africa. At the beginning of the 21st century, up to 40% of Sudanese are illiterate (up to half in rural areas).

At the beginning of the 21st century, a genocide of the Fur people began in the southwestern province of Darfur, supported by the government. The Arab League withdrew itself from the search for a solution to the problem and defended the Islamist dictator of Sudan from international pressure. In 2015, the Sudanese military contingent entered the inter-Arab forces to fight Shiite rebels in Yemen.

In 2016, the Sudanese foreign minister said that Sudan would "look into the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel."

Jews in Sudan

About 1,000 Jews lived in Sudan by the middle of the 20th century. After independence was declared in 1956, about 500 of them left for Israel, the rest went to other countries.

South Sudan independence struggle

The division of Sudan into North and South.

Muslim North Sudan and inhabited by non-Muslims South Sudan have always been distinct geographical areas and most of the time were separated administratively. In 1947, the British authorities united them, effectively placing the Christian and pagan population of South Sudan under the authority of the Arab government.

Immediately after the declaration of independence of Sudan in 1956, a spontaneous uprising of the South Sudanese tribes began, which lasted until 1972.

In 1967, after the Six Day War, South Sudanese leaders met in Paris with Levi Eshkol and established ties with Israel. Israel helped South Sudan to improve the economy. The Mossad helped Christian military formations in South Sudan, a natural ally of Israel.

After the 1969 coup, Sudanese authorities intensified efforts to Islamize South Sudan, which peaked under the Islamist dictator Omar al-Bashir. In 1972, an agreement was signed in Addis Ababa, recognizing the autonomy of South Sudan and giving legal status to the rebel army and police.

In 1983, the dictatorial regime of Sudan violated the terms of the agreement in Addis Ababa, introduced its control in the south and continued the policy of violent Islamization. After creation people's army Liberation of Sudan (SPLA) in 1983 was followed by a second, even more bloody round of struggle.

The regime of Omar al-Bashir used genocide against the people of South Sudan. Punishers burned villages and fields, the local population was sold into slavery or completely destroyed. About 2.5 million people were killed, and more than 5 million were driven from their homes. From total extermination local tribes rescued impenetrable swamps.

In 2005, a ceasefire was reached. South Sudan actually received autonomy, a referendum on independence was scheduled for 2011. On it, the majority of the population voted for secession from Sudan.

On July 9, 2011, the Republic of South Sudan officially declared its independence from Sudan. During the mass festivities in the capital of the new state, Juba, many held Israeli flags in their hands.

Sudan can be read as the land of an ancient civilization. More precisely, it has always been a land that was exploited by all sorts of other civilizations. Even the ancient Egyptians made campaigns south of the Nile rapids to the country of Nubia (from the word "Nub", that is, gold). The Egyptians were attracted here by the gold mining mines, as well as the black slaves, which they called "Nekhsi" (hence the word "Negro"). Already in the 9th century BC. here there was the state of Napata (the first black state in history), which later bore the name Meroe. Later Christianity spread here, so that the country, which was usually called the Nile Ethiopia (not to be confused with the other), was one of the centers of Eastern Christianity. However, the civilized Christian states of the Negroes were located in the north of modern Sudan, while in the south the tribal system still dominated (however, in many respects preserved to our time).

Since the 9th century, Arabs began to penetrate into this region. They spread their language, religion, and began to settle here themselves. Gradually they conquered the local blacks. By the 16th century, Christianity in northern Sudan had completely disappeared. Islam and the Arabic language began to dominate here, several small Arab sultanates were formed. As a result of the mixing of Arabs with local Negroes in the northern part of modern Sudan, a special people began to take shape, considering themselves part of the pan-Arab community, but sharply different from most Arabs in racial and anthropological features. It is no coincidence that this region was called "Sudan", (in Arabic "bilad al-sudan", which translates as "country of blacks"). Sudanese Arabs in racial and anthropological terms are considered mulattoes, although there are also “pure” Negroes among them. Actually whites in Arab Sudan are about 5-7%. Mostly they are descendants of the Egyptians.

In the south, the most diverse tribes still lived, some of which were in the state of the Stone Age. Most of the inhabitants of the Sudanese south belong to the Nilotic group of peoples.

In 1820-22. Sudan was conquered by the ruler of Egypt. Egyptian officials, among whom not even Arabs prevailed, but Turks, Circassians, Albanians and European adventurers of the different origin, created an administrative division into provinces, which persists in Sudan to this day. In 1869-74. in the service of the ruler of Egypt, military units under the command of the Englishman Baker conquered the Upper Nile region and the Darfur region. As a result of this, the borders of Sudan began to roughly correspond to modern ones. Under Egyptian rule, Sudan became a supplier of black slaves, ivory and ostrich feathers. However, the spread of various Western goods and ideas in Sudan, and especially the desire of Europeans to abolish slavery, caused an outburst of indignation among the Sudanese Arabs.

In 1881, local Muslims revolted under the leadership of a certain carpenter Ahmed, who declared himself the Mahdi (Muslim messiah). The British, who had captured Egypt by this time, initially failed in the fight against the Mahdists. They created their own theocratic state, which lived according to Sharia law. Black slaves and Ivory caravans went to the Red Sea, and the state of the Mahdists flourished. After a three-year military campaign of 1896-98. The British defeated the Mahdists and subjugated northern Sudan. After that, they conquered the pagan tribes of the blacks of the south for a long time.

In 1899-1956. Sudan had the strange status of an Anglo-Egyptian condominium. In other words, the British were in charge of all the affairs, the Egyptians were the middle-ranking chiefs, at the local level the Sudanese from the north were the chiefs. As for the southerners, they were only a taxable mass. As you can see, Sudan was a classic illustration of the famous Divide and Conquer rule! However, European missionaries managed to convert some of the tribes of the south to Christianity, so that here, too, a small layer of European-educated intelligentsia appeared.

Under the British in Sudan were laid railways, shipping on the Nile began, cotton growing was developed, in the development of which the country occupied in the 30s. one of the first places in the world. But in general, this colony was of little interest to the British, since it was unprofitable, and this explains the reluctance of both large-scale projects in British Sudan and the desire to preserve the colony itself.

In 1952, an admirer of Rommel and a supporter of socialism, Colonel Gamal Nasser, came to power in Egypt, who announced the rejection of joint british empire governance of Sudan. The British, who did not need Sudan for nothing after the loss of India and the Suez Canal, in 1953 gave it self-government, which was supposed to end with a full declaration of independence, scheduled for January 1, 1956.

On the eve of the declaration of independence, the northerners declared Arabic the state language in the south, began to spread Islam, and finally fired almost all the military and a few officials from the southern nationalities. It is clear that the southerners did not like this, and on August 18, 1955, an uprising began in the south. So even before the declaration of independence, a civil war broke out. Various tribal formations fought against the central government, of which only a third were armed with firearms. The rest at first used spears, bows and arrows. Since about 1963, an insurgent organization has emerged in the south with the romantic name "Anya-nya", which means "poison of the cobra". Anya-nya received help with weapons and instructors from Israel, whose leaders looked with pleasure at the weakening Arab country. Row neighboring countries, who were in conflict with official Khartoum, provided their territories for partisan training camps. Gradually, "cobra venom" spread to most of the south.

Meanwhile in Sudan political history experienced an inexorable repetition of cycles - first a weak, ineffective parliamentary democracy, then a brutal dictatorship, then democracy again, then dictatorship again. After the ephemeral government offices of 1956-58, General Abboud seized power, ruling with an iron fist and trying to crush the guerrillas in the south by force of arms. After his overthrow in 1964, there were again 5 years of democracy that did nothing, after which power in May 1969 passed to General Nimeiri. Nimeiri started as a supporter of Arab socialism, and even his party was called SSS (Sudanese Socialist Union). However, Nimeiri quickly dealt with the local communists and changed his orientation, becoming an Islamist. He shot most of his SS men and brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power.

But initially for the south, it seemed that the wonderful beginning of the days of Nimeiri meant hope for peace and autonomy. In 1972, a peace treaty was signed in Addis Ababa, according to which the war ended, 3 southern provinces received broad autonomy. But the music did not last long. Nimeiri went further and further in the policy of Islamization. In 1983, he introduced sharia law throughout the country. By order of the president, all drinking establishments were closed, wine was poured into the Nile, and Islamic punishments were introduced. For the effectiveness of the enforcement of sentences, they even came up with a special small guillotine for cutting off the hands of thieves, as well as special collapsible gallows.

It is clear that in the Christian-pagan south, Sharia was met with hostility, and in the literal sense of the word. Since 1983, a new civil war has begun there. In the same year, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a Christian rebel organization, was formed in the south of the country. There were a number of other groups, in particular, "Anya-nya-2", but they were gradually defeated by the SPLA.

Nimeiri was overthrown in 1985, and again 4 years of democracy followed, which achieved nothing. The war continued. In 1989, after a military coup, power passed to a new president named Omar Hassan Ahmet al-Bashir. The new dictator decided to surpass Nimeiri in Islamism by publicly announcing that he would live according to the precepts of Ayatollah Khomeini. The general sought to pacify and Islamize the south with his usual methods. For the south, mass executions, burning of villages, bombardments and the like have become commonplace. However, if the Americans establish democracy by such methods, then why can't the spread of Islam be inspired by advanced Western models?

In general, Sudan in many ways began to resemble Taliban Afghanistan. Slavery in Sudan exists quite openly. Many blacks of the south become slaves, mainly as domestic servants for wealthy Muslims. There are slave markets in Khartoum and some other cities. A black slave in northern Sudan costs no more than $15, while his relatives must pay $50-$100 for his release. Such a large profit is due to the fact that many slaves are redeemed by Christian charity organisations, which sometimes encourages slavers to capture the same people multiple times. Small boys are often castrated, as eunuchs are required for the harems of the faithful. However, only a part of black eunuchs are used in Sudan itself, most of them are exported to the countries of the Persian Gulf.

Since there is oil in the areas inhabited by "infidels", the Sudanese authorities even came up with a specific way to replenish the treasury through "oil raids". Before heading out to extract oil, Islamic soldiers carry out a cleansing operation using tanks, artillery and planes. At the same time, it is not the rebel camps that are considered the main targets, but churches, schools and hospitals. Such "artillery preparation" lasts up to several weeks, followed by a punitive expedition to the oil-bearing regions, oil harvesting, mass torture and murder, the destruction of the surviving buildings, and finally, the return with production to the north.

In addition, the Sudanese military and Islamist gangs have come up with a wonderful way to distinguish a black orthodox from a southern infidel. When cleaning up the southern village, they take off their pants from all the inhabitants, and if they find someone who is not circumcised, they immediately shoot them. However, the partisans of the south began to apply the same methods, clearing the south of the Muslims.

So, Sudan is a failed state. There is no industry other than predatory oil production. In the south, however, generally prevails natural economy. The average life expectancy in the country is 51 years (even in Russia it is higher, so there is someone to look up to). Note that in this country, 40% of the population have an income of less than 1 (one) US dollar per day. In terms of GDP per capita, the country ranks 181st in the world. Below the poverty level (African level!) - 40% of the population. The unemployment rate is 18.7%. In reality, 1/3 of the population does not have a job. Literacy, according to official figures - 71% of men, 50% of women. But these figures can be called into question, since the Sudanese Arabs speak their own dialects, which are very different from literary Arabic. It's about the same if official language in France to do Latin. So many graduates take out from Sudanese schools the knowledge by heart of entire surahs from the Koran, but are not able to read the instructions for using a vacuum cleaner (which, however, few people in Sudan have).

In the end, even the jihadists got fed up with years of war, and on January 9, 2005, a truce was signed, ending the second war in the south, which cost 2 million lives, and turned the same number of people into refugees. In pursuance of this truce, exactly 6 years later, a referendum on secession was held.

However, peace did not come to Sudan, since in 2003 a war broke out in the province of Darfur. It is significant that the vast majority of Darfurians, divided into hundreds of tribes, profess Islam. But contrary to all talk of Islamic solidarity, Darfurians enthusiastically slaughter each other. However, there is a lot of oil in Darfur and it is more convenient to transport it, so it is not surprising that the West suddenly remembered that human rights are not in order in Sudan. In March 2009, the International Criminal Court found al-Bashir guilty of the genocide in Darfur and issued a warrant for his arrest. Of course, al-Bashir used this warrant in the soldiers' toilet for its intended purpose, but the fact of the "black mark" on the head of the regime is important.

So, the referendum on the secession of South Sudan has begun. Even if al-Bashir announces the victory of the supporters of a united Sudan, it does not matter. It will only push back legal recognition of the long-separated south.

The significance of the referendum is not that a country that has never been united will fall apart. Moreover, even the fact that Darfur, and possibly some other Sudanese provinces, will secede after the south, is also of secondary importance. The precedent of the collapse of the country in the 21st century is important. Now the wind of separatism will blow into the sails of independentists on all continents.

For Russia, the Sudanese collapse has the positive that in a single country the Islamic model of social order is suffering a complete fiasco. No matter how disgusting the Western system is, the Muslim Middle Ages can hardly be a worthy alternative to it. It is widely believed among American blacks that Christianity is the religion of whites, but Islam may be the original religion of blacks. But the reality of Sudan disproved these judgments. Racial discrimination against Arab mulattoes in Sudan was no better than apartheid in South Africa. The "Islamic economy" and the corresponding "Islamic society" on the model of Khomeini turned out to be a bloody obscurantism in Sudan (and not only there).

So, in the south of Sudan, after more than half a century of struggle, a Christian state is born. The official results of the referendum will not be announced until mid-February, but already now there is little doubt that South Sudan will gain independence: a simple majority of votes is needed to make such a decision. Officially, the new state may appear on July 9, 2011.

Let us congratulate the courageous Christians of the South Sudanese state on their victory!

An independent state called the Republic of South Sudan appeared on the world map quite recently. He is just over three years old. Officially, the sovereignty of this country was proclaimed on July 9, 2011. At the same time, almost all of the newest South Sudan is the history of a long and bloody struggle for independence. Although hostilities began in South Sudan almost immediately after the declaration of independence of the “greater” Sudan - in the 1950s, nevertheless, only in 2011 South Sudan managed to gain independence - not without the help of the West, primarily the United States, which pursued its goals in the destruction of such a large state, which was under the Arab-Muslim control, which was a single Sudan with its capital in Khartoum.

In principle, North and South Sudan are so different regions that the presence of serious tensions between them was historically determined and without Western influence. In many ways, a united Sudan, before the declaration of independence of South Sudan, resembled Nigeria - the same problems: the Muslim North and the Christian-animistic South, plus its own nuances in the western regions (Darfur and Kordofan). However, in Sudan, confessional differences were exacerbated by both racial and cultural differences. The north of a unified Sudan was inhabited by Arabs and Arabized peoples belonging to the Caucasoid or transitional Ethiopian minor race. But South Sudan is Negroid, mostly Nilotic, professing traditional cults or Christianity (in its local sense).

"Black Country"

Back in the 19th century, South Sudan did not know statehood, at least in the sense that it puts into this concept. modern man. It was a territory inhabited by numerous Nilotic tribes, the most famous of which are the Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk. The dominant role in a number of regions of South Sudan was played by the Azande tribes, who spoke the languages ​​of the Ubangi branch of the Adamawa-Ubangi subfamily of the Gur-Ubangi family of the Niger-Kordofanian macrofamily of languages. From the north, detachments of Arab slave traders periodically invaded the South Sudanese lands, seizing "living goods", which were in great demand in the slave markets, both in Sudan itself and in Egypt, Asia Minor, and the Arabian Peninsula. However, the raids of the slave traders did not change the thousand-year-old archaic way of life of the Nilotic tribes, since they did not entail political and economic transformations in the South Sudanese lands. The situation changed when the Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali in 1820-1821, who became interested in natural resources South Sudanese lands, decided to move to a colonization policy. However, the Egyptians failed to fully master this region and integrate it into Egypt.

The re-colonization of South Sudan began in the 1870s, but it was not successful either. Egyptian troops managed to conquer only the Darfur region - in 1874, after which they were forced to stop, because further there were tropical swamps, which significantly impeded their movement. Thus, South Sudan proper remained virtually uncontrollable. The final development of this vast region took place only during the period of Anglo-Egyptian rule over Sudan in 1898-1955, but even during this period it had its own nuances. Thus, the British, who, together with the Egyptians, administered Sudan, sought to prevent the Arabization and Islamization of the South Sudanese provinces inhabited by the Negroid population. Arab-Muslim influence in the region was minimized in every possible way, as a result of which the peoples of South Sudan either managed to preserve their original beliefs and culture, or they were Christianized by European preachers. Among a certain part of the Negroid population of South Sudan, English was spreading, but the bulk of the population spoke Nilotic and Adamawa-Ubangi languages, practically not knowing Arabic, which had a de facto monopoly in northern Sudan.

In February 1953, Egypt and Great Britain, in the context of decolonization processes gaining strength in the world, came to an agreement on the gradual transition of Sudan to self-government, and then to the proclamation of political sovereignty. In 1954, the Sudanese parliament was created, and on January 1, 1956, Sudan gained political independence. The British planned that Sudan would become a federal state in which the rights of the Arab population of the northern provinces and the Negroid population of South Sudan would be equally respected. However, the Sudanese Arabs played a key role in the Sudanese independence movement, who promised the British to implement a federal model, but in reality did not plan to provide real political equality to the North and South. As soon as Sudan gained political independence, the Khartoum government abandoned plans to create a federal state, which caused a sharp increase in separatist sentiment in its southern provinces. The Negroid population of the south was not going to put up with the situation of "second class people" in the newly proclaimed Arab Sudan, especially because of the forced Islamization and Arabization carried out by supporters of the Khartoum government.

"Snake Sting" and the First Civil War

The formal reason for the beginning of the armed uprising of the peoples of South Sudan was the massive layoffs of officials and officers who came from the Christianized Nilotic peoples of the South. On August 18, 1955, a civil war broke out in South Sudan. Initially, the southerners, despite their willingness to stand to the last, did not pose a serious danger to the Sudanese government forces, since only less than a third of the rebels had firearms. The rest, like thousands of years ago, fought with bows and arrows and spears. The situation began to change by the early 1960s, when a centralized organization of the South Sudanese resistance was formed, called Anya Nya (Snake Sting). This organization enlisted the support of Israel. Tel Aviv was interested in weakening the large Arab-Muslim state, which was a united Sudan, so it began to help arm the South Sudanese separatists. On the other hand, the southern neighbors of Sudan, the African states, which had certain territorial claims or political scores against Khartoum, were interested in supporting Anya Nya. As a result, training camps for South Sudanese rebels appeared in Uganda and Ethiopia.

The first civil war of South Sudan against the Khartoum government lasted from 1955 to 1970. and resulted in the deaths of at least 500,000 civilians. Hundreds of thousands of people became refugees in neighboring states. The Khartoum government has increased its military presence in the south of the country, sending a contingent of troops totaling 12,000 troops there. Khartoum was supplied with weapons by the Soviet Union. However, the South Sudanese rebels managed to control many areas of the countryside in the provinces of South Sudan.

Considering that it was not possible to overcome the resistance of the rebels by armed means, Khartoum entered into negotiations with the leader of the rebels, Joseph Lagu, who in 1971 formed liberation movement South Sudan. Lagu insisted on the creation of a federal state in which each part would have its own government and armed forces. Naturally, the Arab elite of Northern Sudan was not going to agree to these demands, but in the end, the peacekeeping efforts of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, who acted as a mediator in the negotiation process, led to the Addis Ababa agreement being concluded. In accordance with the agreement, the three southern provinces received autonomous status and, moreover, a 12,000-strong army was created with a mixed officer corps of northerners and southerners. English language received regional status in the southern provinces. On March 27, 1972, an armistice agreement was signed. The Khartoum government granted amnesty to the rebels and set up a commission to control the return of refugees to the country.

Islamization and the beginning of the second civil war

However, the relative peace in South Sudan did not last long after the conclusion of the Addis Ababa agreement. There were several reasons for the new aggravation of the situation. First, significant oil deposits have been discovered in South Sudan. Naturally, the Khartoum government could not miss the chance to get South Sudanese oil, but control over oil fields required strengthening its positions central government on South. The central government also could not ignore the oil fields of South Sudan, since it was in serious need of replenishing its financial resources. The second point was the strengthening of the political influence of Islamic fundamentalists on the Khartoum leadership. Islamic organizations had close ties with the traditional monarchies of the Arab East, in addition, they had a serious influence on the Arab population of the country. The existence of a Christian and, moreover, a "pagan" enclave on the territory of South Sudan was extremely difficult for Islamic radicals. annoying factor. Moreover, they were already pushing through the idea of ​​creating an Islamic state in Sudan, living according to Sharia law.

During the period of the events described, Sudan was headed by President Jafar Mohammed Nimeiri (1930-2009). A professional military man, 39-year-old Nimeiri, back in 1969, overthrew the then Sudanese government of Ismail al-Azhari and proclaimed himself chairman of the Revolutionary Council. Initially, he was guided by the Soviet Union and relied on the support of the Sudanese communists. By the way, the Sudanese Communist Party was one of the most powerful on the African continent, Nimeiri introduced its representatives to the Khartoum government, proclaiming a course towards the socialist path of development and anti-imperialist resistance. Thanks to cooperation with the communists, Nimeiri could count on military aid from the side Soviet Union, which he successfully used, including in the conflict with South Sudan.

However, by the end of the 1970s, the growing influence of Islamist forces in Sudanese society forced Nimeiri to radically change his political priorities. In 1983, he declared Sudan a Sharia state. Representatives of the Muslim Brotherhood organization entered the government, and the construction of mosques began everywhere. Sharia laws were introduced throughout the country, including in the South, where the Muslim population was in an absolute minority. In response to the Islamization of Sudan, the activation of local separatists began in the southern provinces. They accused Nimeiri's Khartoum government of violating the Addis Ababa agreement. In 1983, the creation of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) was announced. It is significant that the SPLA advocated the unity of the Sudanese state and accused the Nimeiri government of actions that could lead to the disintegration of the country along national and confessional lines.

Rebels by John Garang

The Sudanese People's Liberation Army was led by Colonel John Garang de Mabior (1945-2005). A native of the Nilotic Dinka people, from the age of 17 he took part in the guerrilla movement in South Sudan. As one of the most capable young men, he was sent to study in Tanzania, and then in the USA.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in economics from the United States and completing his studies in agricultural economics in Tanzania, Garang returned to his homeland and rejoined the guerrilla resistance. The conclusion of the Addis Ababa agreement prompted him, like many other partisans, to serve in the Sudanese armed forces, where, in accordance with the agreement, the rebel detachments of the South Sudanese peoples were integrated. Garang, as an educated and active person, received captain's shoulder straps and continued to serve in the armed forces of Sudan, where he rose to the rank of colonel in 11 years. Recently he served in the headquarters ground forces, from where it was sent to South Sudan. There he was caught by the news of the introduction of Sharia law in Sudan. Then Garang led a whole battalion of the Sudanese armed forces, staffed by southerners, to the territory of neighboring Ethiopia, where other southerners who had deserted from the Sudanese army soon arrived.

The units under the command of John Garang operated from the territory of Ethiopia, but soon they managed to take control of large areas of the provinces of South Sudan. This time, the resistance to the Khartoum government was more successful, since there were many professional military men in the ranks of the rebels who managed to get military education and experience in commanding military units.

Meanwhile, in 1985, another military coup took place in Sudan itself. While President Nimeiri was visiting the United States of America, Colonel General Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dagab (b. 1934), who served as chief general staff armed forces, carried out a military coup and seized power in the country. It happened on April 6, 1985. The first decision of the rebels was the abolition of the 1983 constitution, which established Sharia law. The ruling Sudanese Socialist Union party was dissolved, ex-president Nimeiri was in exile, and General Swar al-Dagab himself handed over power to the government of Sadiq al-Mahdi in 1986. Last start negotiations with the South Sudanese rebels, seeking to conclude a peace agreement and prevent further bloodshed. In 1988, the South Sudanese rebels agreed with the Khartoum government on a project for a peaceful settlement of the situation in the country, which included the abolition of state of emergency and Sharia law. However, already in November 1988, Prime Minister al-Mahdi refused to sign this plan, which led to the strengthening of the position of Islamic fundamentalists in the Khartoum government. Nevertheless, in February 1989 the prime minister, under pressure from the military, accepted the peace plan. It seemed that nothing further stops the Khartoum government from fulfilling the agreements and peace in southern Sudan can be restored.

However, instead of appeasing the southern provinces, a sharp aggravation of the situation followed. Its cause was a new military coup that took place in Sudan. On June 30, 1989, Brigadier General Omar al-Bashir, a professional military paratrooper who had previously commanded a parachute brigade in Khartoum, seized power in the country, dissolved the government and banned political parties. Omar al-Bashir was on conservative positions and sympathized with Islamic fundamentalists. In many ways, it was he who stood at the origins of the further escalation of the conflict in the South of Sudan, which led to the collapse of the unified Sudanese state.

The results of al-Bashir's activities were the establishment of a dictatorial regime in the country, the prohibition of political parties and trade union organizations, and the return to Sharia law. In March 1991, the country's penal code was updated to include medieval punishments such as forcible amputation of hands for certain types crimes, stoning and crucifixion. Following the introduction of a new criminal code, Omar al-Bashir began to update the judiciary in southern Sudan, replacing Christian judges with Muslim judges there. In fact, this meant that Sharia law would be applied against the non-Muslim population of the southern provinces. In the northern provinces of the country, the Sharia police began to carry out repressions against people from the South who did not comply with the norms of Sharia law.

In the southern provinces of Sudan resumed active phase military operations. Sudanese People's Rebels liberation army took control of part of the provinces of Bahr el-Ghazal, Upper Nile, Blue Nile, Darfur and Kordofan. However, in July 1992, Khartoum troops, better armed and trained, managed to take control of the headquarters of the South Sudanese rebels in Torit in a swift offensive. Repressions began against the civilian population of the southern provinces, which included the deportation of tens of thousands of women and children into slavery in the north of the country. According to international organizations, up to 200 thousand people were captured and enslaved by northern Sudanese troops and non-governmental Arab groups. Thus, at the end of the twentieth century, everything returned to the situation of a hundred years ago - the raids of Arab slave traders on Negro villages.

At the same time, the Khartoum government began to disorganize the South Sudanese resistance by sowing internal hostility based on tribal contradictions. As you know, John Garang, who led the People's Liberation Army, came from the Dinka people, one of the largest Nilotic peoples in South Sudan. The Sudanese intelligence services began to sow ethnic discord in the ranks of the rebels, convincing representatives of other nationalities that, if they won, Garang would establish a dictatorship of the Dinka people, which would carry out genocide against other ethnic groups in the region.

As a result, there was an attempt to overthrow Garang, which ended in the separation in September 1992 of the group led by William Bani, and in February 1993 - the group led by Cherubino Boli. It seemed that the government of Khartoum was about to be able to crack down on the rebel movement in the south of the country, sowing discord among the rebel groups and, at the same time, intensifying repression against the non-Muslim population of the southern provinces. However, everything was spoiled by the excessive foreign policy independence of the Khartoum government.

Omar al-Bashir, sympathetic to the Islamists, supported Saddam Hussein during Operation Desert Storm, which led to the final deterioration of Sudan's relations with the United States of America. After that, many African countries began to turn away from Sudan as a "rogue country". Ethiopia, Eritrea, Uganda and Kenya have shown their support for the rebels, with the former three countries stepping up their military assistance to the rebel groups. In 1995 there was a merger of the opposition political forces Northern Sudan with South Sudanese rebels. The so-called "National Democratic Alliance" included the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the Sudan Democratic Union and a number of others. political organizations.

All this led to the fact that in 1997 the Khartoum government signed an agreement with part of the rebel groups on reconciliation. Omar al-Bashir had no choice but to recognize the cultural and political autonomy of South Sudan. In 1999, Omar al-Bashir himself made concessions and offered John Garang cultural autonomy within Sudan, but the rebel leader was unstoppable. Active hostilities continued until 2004, although ceasefire negotiations between the opposing factions continued at the same time. Finally, on January 9, 2005, another peace agreement was signed in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. On behalf of the rebels, it was signed by John Garang, on behalf of the Khartoum government - by Vice-President of Sudan Ali Osman Mahammad Taha. In accordance with the terms of this agreement, it was decided: to cancel Sharia law in the south of the country, to cease fire from both sides, to demobilize a significant part of the armed formations, to establish an even distribution of income from the exploitation of oil fields in the southern provinces of the country. South Sudan was granted autonomy for six years, after which the population of the region was given the right to hold a referendum, which would raise the question of the independence of South Sudan as a separate state. The commander of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, John Garang, became the Vice President of Sudan.

By the time the peace agreements were concluded, according to international organizations, up to two million people had died in hostilities, during repressions and ethnic cleansing. Approximately four million people have left South Sudan, becoming internal and external refugees. Naturally, the consequences of the war were terrible for the Sudanese economy and the social infrastructure of South Sudan. However, on July 30, 2005, John Garang, returning by helicopter from a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, died in a plane crash.

He was replaced by Salva Kiir (born 1951) - Garang's deputy in charge of the military wing of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, known for his more radical positions on the issue of granting political independence to South Sudan. As you know, Garanga was also satisfied with the model of keeping the southern provinces as part of a single Sudan, in the absence of interference in their affairs by the Islamist Arab elite of Khartoum. However, Salwa Kiir was much more determined and insisted on the complete political independence of South Sudan. Actually, after the crash of the helicopter, he had no other obstacles. Replacing the deceased Garang as vice-president of Sudan, Salva Kiir set a course for the further proclamation of the political independence of South Sudan.

Political independence did not bring peace

On January 8, 2008, North Sudanese troops were withdrawn from the territory of South Sudan, and on January 9-15, 2011, a referendum was held, in which 98.8% of the participating citizens spoke in favor of granting political independence to South Sudan, which was proclaimed on July 9, 2011. Salwa Kiir became the first president of the sovereign Republic of South Sudan.

However, the declaration of political independence does not mean the final solution of all conflict situations in this region. First, extremely tense relations remain between Northern Sudan and South Sudan. They resulted in several armed clashes between the two states. Moreover, the first of them began in May 2011, that is, a month before the official declaration of independence of South Sudan. It was a conflict in South Kordofan, a province that is currently part of Sudan (Northern Sudan), but is largely populated by representatives of African peoples related to the inhabitants of South Sudan and who maintained historical and cultural ties with them, including during the period long struggle for the independence of the South Sudanese state.

The most serious contradictions with the Khartoum government were the inhabitants of the Nuba mountains - the so-called "mountain Nubians", or Nuba. The millionth Nuba people speak the Nubian language, one of two branches of the Tama-Nubian family of languages, traditionally included in the Eastern Sudanese superfamily of the Nilo-Saharan macrofamily. Despite the fact that the Nuba formally profess Islam, they retain very strong vestiges of traditional beliefs, due to their living in the mountains and relatively late Islamization. Naturally, on this basis, they have tense relations with Islamic radicals from the Arab environment of Northern Sudan.

On June 6, 2011, hostilities broke out, the cause of which was formally the conflict situation around the withdrawal of South Sudanese units from the city of Abyei. As a result of the fighting, at least 704 South Sudanese soldiers died, 140,000 civilians became refugees. Many residential buildings, social and economic infrastructure facilities were destroyed. At present, the territory where the conflict took place remains part of Northern Sudan, which does not exclude the possibility of its further repetition.

On March 26, 2012, another armed conflict broke out between Sudan and South Sudan - over the border town of Heglig and surrounding areas, many of which are rich natural resources. The Sudanese People's Liberation Army and the Sudanese Armed Forces participated in the conflict. On April 10, 2012, South Sudan captured the city of Heglig, in response, the Khartoum government announced a general mobilization and on April 22, 2012, achieved the withdrawal of South Sudanese units from Heglig. This conflict contributed to Khartoum officially designating South Sudan as an enemy state. At the same time, neighboring Uganda has officially and once again confirmed that it will support South Sudan.

Meanwhile, not everything is calm on the territory of South Sudan itself. Given that this state is inhabited by representatives of a number of nationalities who claim a primary role in the country, or are offended that other ethnic groups are in power, it is easy to predict that South Sudan almost immediately after the declaration of independence became the scene of internecine struggle of opposing ethnic armed groups. The most serious confrontation unfolded in 2013-2014. between the Nuer and Dinka peoples - one of the most numerous Nilotic ethnic groups. On December 16, 2013, an attempted military coup was thwarted in the country, which, according to President Salva Kiir, was attempted by supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar. Riek Machar (born 1953) - also a veteran of the partisan movement, fought first as part of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, and then concluded separate agreements with the Khartoum government and led the pro-Khartoum South Sudan Defense Forces, and then - People's forces Defense of Sudan / Democratic Front. Then Machar again became a supporter of Garang and served as vice president in South Sudan. Machar belongs to the Nuer people and is considered by the representatives of the latter as a spokesman for their interests, as opposed to Dinka Salva Kiir.

The coup attempt by Machar's supporters marked the beginning of a new bloody civil war in South Sudan - this time between the Dinka and Nuer peoples. According to international organizations, only in the period from the end of December 2013 to February 2014, 863 thousand civilians in South Sudan became refugees, at least 3.7 million people are in dire need of food. All the efforts of international mediators to ensure the conduct of the negotiation process between the opponents end in failure, since there are always uncontrolled groups that continue to further escalate violence.