Facts about sudan

                             1.) Located in northeast Africa, Sudan is the largest country on the continent. It is about a quarter of the size of the United states (2,505,813 sq km), making it the 10^th largest country in the world according to the World Factbook.

                             2.) Since independence from Britain in 1956, a north-south war has dominated Sudan's history, pitting Arab Muslims in the northern desert against black Christians and animists in the southern wetlands. 

                             3.) Africans, make up 52 percent of Sudanese, and are most numerous in southern and western Sudan. The country is further divided with hundreds of black, Arab, and non-Arab ethnicities, tribes, and languages.

                             4.) Sudan's political history has been unstable. Gen. Muhammad Nimeiri, who seized control in the 1970s, was deposed in 1985. In 1989 another military coup, led by then-Col. 


                            5.) The land of the Sudan has been inhabited by people for thousands of years. The first great empire to emerge was the Kushites. In the 8th century BC, Kush grew in strength and even took control over Egypt.

                           
                             6.)  Government of National Unity - the National Congress Party  and Sudan People's Liberation Movement  formed a power-sharing government under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement ; the NCP, which came to power by military coup in 1989, is the majority partner; the agreement stipulates national elections for the 2008 - 2009 timeframe. 

                             7.) Sudan became an independent country in 1956. A civil war immediately began between the southern areas and the Islamic government. It lasted for 17 years and then started up again in 1983. 
                            8.)   Army coups in 1958 and 1969 plus civil war impeded attempts to build a parliamentary democracy. In 1972, the Addis Ababa Agreement enforced a peace agreement between the government and separatist southern rebels.

                            9.)  In 1996, terrorist threats led President Clinton to withdraw the U.S. ambassador to Sudan. 

                            10.) Since 2003, violence in Darfur -- called ethnic cleansing by some and genocide by others -- has left an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 dead and an estimated 1.2 million to 2 million people displaced. Survivors face severe shortages of food and clean water.









  For more facts go to http://www.sudan.net/facts.php, http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/sudan-facts/, http://www.ducksters.com/geography/country.php?country=Sudan and http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/sudan/facts.html