Sudan is the largest and one of the most diverse countries in Africa. The country has been engaged in violent struggle for most of its existence. In 2003, it emerged from a 21-year internal armed conflict between the Sudanese Government and non-state armed groups in the south, which is said to have cost the lives of 1.5 million people. The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army/Movement, the largest non-state armed group, provides for a high degree of autonomy for the south. The region will also share oil revenue equally with the north.
But while the government and southern rebels were negotiating for peace, fighting broke out in the western region of Darfur in early 2003 when non-state armed groups seeking greater autonomy began an insurrection. Pro-government Arab militias are accused of carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab groups in the region. An African Union peacekeeping force was deployed in the Darfur region, and then in 2007 the UN Security Council authorised a "hybrid" UN/African Union force, UNAMID. In November 2007, however, the UN warned that the peacekeeping mission in Darfur might fail.
In April 2008, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, John Holmes, told the UN Security Council that the situation inside Darfur had only worsened in the past 12 months, despite the efforts of the international community. Mr. Holmes said as many as 300,000 people are now estimated to have died in Darfur since early 2003. This figure includes deaths from disease, malnutrition and reduced life expectancy, as well as from direct combat. In addition to the death toll, more than 2.7 million people have been displaced by the fighting, the vast majority still living within the arid region in the west of the country. Around 260,000 refugees have fled to neighbouring Chad.
A Commission of Inquiry set up by the UN Security Council in 2004 considered allegations that war crimes and crimes against humanity had been committed during the conflict. Subsequently arrest warrants were issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a number of Sudanese Government officials and the head of the so-called Janjaweed (see International judicial decisions section). In early June 2008, the Government refused again to extradite the accused to The Hague for trial. The first Sudanese indictee, Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, a Darfur non-state armed group member, accused in relation to an attack against African Union peacekeepers, appeared before the ICC on 18 May 2009.
In July 2008, the Prosecutor of the ICC requested that the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, be indicted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. This was the first ever request to the ICC for the arrest of a serving head of state. In March 2009, judges at the International Criminal Court issued the arrest warrant against al-Bashir, retaining counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide. The Prosecutor subsequently appealed the decision not to include the charge of genocide. The same month, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) issued a communiqué in which it criticised the move. In July 2009, AU leaders reiterated that they would not cooperate with the ICC in extraditing al-Bashir, as they feared this would compromise the peace process in Darfur. In February 2010, the ICC Appeals Chamber rendered its judgment on the Prosecutor’s appeal, reversing, by unanimous decision, Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of 4 March, 2009, and directed Pre-Trial Chamber I to decide anew on the genocide charge.
The conflict in Darfur has also strained relations between Sudan and Chad, to the west. Both countries have accused each other of cross-border incursions. There have been fears that the Darfur conflict could lead to a wider, regional war. In early May 2008, one of the armed groups in Darfur launched an assault on the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. The attack by the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) was repelled, with the government calling for JEM to be listed as a terrorist group and blaming also Chad for its alleged support for the group. Chad denied the charges and closed its border, claiming Sudan was planning an attack.
Problems with the implementation of the CPA intensified in May 2008 with fighting breaking out between northern and southern forces in the disputed oil-rich town of Abyei. In early June 2008, the International Crisis Group said that the Abyei Conflict threatened to escalate into full-scale war and the UN Regional Co-ordinator for South Sudan, David Gressley, said the country was "on the brink". To reduce tensions, President al-Bashir and southern leader Salva Kiir agreed to seek international arbitration to resolve the dispute over Abyei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration rendered its decision on 22 July 2009.
Last updated: 7 February 2010
