History
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Byzantine Empress Theodora sent a missionary to Nobatia; the missionary preached Christianity in and around Nubia and Christianity was firmly established in local social and political institutions in Nubia. Later in the seventh century, the Arab commander in Egypt attempts to convert Sudan to Islam through military conquests. Conversion to Islam occurred through intermarriage and contact with Arab merchants and settlers. During the condominium period of joint Egyptian and British influence, the North-South divide increased. After the February 1953 agreement by the United Kingdom and Egypt to grant independence to Sudan by 1956, the internal tensions between North and South increased even more. Northern politicians in the Umma Party argued that Sudan was an Islamic country and called for the development of an Islamic parliamentary republic based on sharia. War break out and a half million people were killed and hundreds of thousands more were displaced in 17 years. The South Sudan later called for independence and the new nation of South Sudan was created in 2010 by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in 2003.
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Discussion Questions |
1. The historical origin of Sudan’s religious divides is when the Arab commander in Egypt attempts to convert Sudan to Islam through military conquests and the Anglo-Egyptian agreement in 1899 restored Egyptian rule in Sudan as part of a condominium exercised by Britain and Egypt. During this period, the North-South divide increased because development was focused in northern regions and Southerners are afraid of being subsumed by North’s political power.
2. Domestic religious forces and identities were involved in the conflict. Religious identity is the main factor that divided line between the northern and southern regions during both Sudanese civil wars. 70 percent of Sudan’s population was Muslim, with up to 90 percent living in the North. National sharia laws led to increased conversions to Christianity as Southerners attempted to avoid being prosecuted by Islamic law. These laws also drove an increasing number of southern youths into the ranks of the SPLM as the war took on significance in national and African identity. 3. International religious and political forces were important in this controversy because internal tensions between the North and South increased significantly when United Kingdom and Egypt granted independence to Sudan in 1956. Moreover, the United States and Saudi Arabia pressured Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to leave Sudan in 1995 due to religious extremist’s terrorist threats. 4. Socioeconomic factors played significant roles in the North-South divide. While religious conflict increased tension between North and South, South’s lack of autonomy is the main issue of the conflict. As development in the North increases, the two regions merged into one administrative region without consultation with Southerners, who are concerned about the North’s political power. |