Sudan like many countries in the world has been through a long and bloody civil war. Sudan one of Africa’s largest countries and once used to be one of its greatest is know recognized only as a war-stricken country with no hope. When the Darfur conflict began, it was the world’s top priority. The U.N was sending help, supplies, and medicine but now the problem has faded away from people’s minds and not many think it is still on going but it is and the southern civilians and the millions who are displaced and being killed need help. Since January 1, 1956 Sudan has had no stability. Many governments have tried to stabilize the country but warlords and army generals trying to gain power have overthrown the governments and by doing this have intensified clan rivalries and tensions between the indigenous and Christian south and power greedy and Islamic north. A look into Sudan’s history can hopefully reveal the truth behind the problem and a way to solve it. According to the DOS, Sudan was formed from a collection of small African kingdoms overlooked by Egypt and other nearby Islamic states but never forced them to do any thing. It had its own government and a good economy that was based on their sale of metals such as copper, iron, gold, and other industrial metals. Other exports included cotton, peanuts, sugarcane, and other agricultural products. (DOS 3) In 1881, a religious leader named Mohamed Ibn Abdulla brought the country together into what is now known as Sudan. He established order with the feuding clans from all corners of the country. Sudan lived in peace and prosperity. Mohamed became king at a very old age and died soon after becoming king in 1885. While Sudan was still mourning for its fallen king Egypt and Great Britain took the chance of colonizing the country. Sudan had officially become a colony of Egypt and Great Britain in 1898. Sudan was a colony for 58 long years, slowly falling apart as clans were once feuding and by being colonized only made the situation worse.

After Sudan had gained its independence January 1, 1956; the clans moved quickly trying to set up a government. Each one of them had their own ideas, nothing was agreed on, and each clan tried to set up a government that would favor them. The first official war in Sudan’s history had begun. A peace agreement in 1972 ended the civil war but quickly, after promises were broken, tensions were rising again between militia in Khartoum and rebels in the south. Sudan had been experiencing conflicts between Arab Muslims in the north and the black Africans in the south who had practiced mainly Christian and animist beliefs since the 1800’s (mamdani 2). The religious conflict went to an extreme when in 1983; newly elected communist President Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiri imposed the Islamic Shari ‘a law on the whole country, anyone who was accused of a crime was jailed, amputated, or executed.

After many attempts at trying to build a stable country and failing every time, the country broke down. Nimeiri was overthrown by coup in 1985. Noticing the counties weakness was Sudanese military general Umar al-Bashir who staged a coup that got him into power and officially named his himself president in 1989 (DOS 5).

After 14 years al-Bashir was still in power, still controlling the country like a dictator, and even after 14 years the country was still not united. In 2003, thing really became bad al-Bashir gave arms to small group of Sudanese Arabs now known as “janjaweed”. The group had been formed to suppress black Africans rebels in the south, but the plan got out of hand and many southern civilians were found killed in mass numbers (Mamdani 4). The situation got worse when the world had found out that the people murdered were mainly from the same type of ethnic groups. According U.N reports “On September 9, 2004, secretary of state Colin Powell, told the senate foreign relations committee,”’ genocide has been committed in Darfur and that the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed bear responsibility—and that genocide may still be Occurring.’” President Bush echoed this in July of 2005, when he stated that the situation in Darfur was clearly Genocide (Johnson 11). It has been estimated that a total of 2 million people have been killed and nearly 4 Million displaced, this are very large numbers and what makes this worse is that there was only an estimated 6.5 million people in the south (Mamdani 4)

It is very clear that the world has to step up their efforts in Darfur because nothing is being done and the U.N is slow in terms of getting things done. The world has to be shown that there are people suffering and nothing is being done to help them. Usually when there is a world crisis we have “the little two month panic” when celebrities throw parties to fundraise money. The Red Cross gets their little “10 donation program” going but after those two months, have people actually thought about what is happening now in Darfur or what is being done to help.

Like in the second trimester when we read “lord of the Flies” I learned that defects of human nature are in everyday life. The murderers who want power, revenge, or want to act violently. The robber who has greed and wants everything. The terrorist who want use force instead of reason. Everyday things that taught to us as children like the golden rule, think before you act, and simply just play nice. If people can ultimately eliminate these defects which probably won’t happen, problems like these and many others will rise and will continue for all eternity. Hopefully Sudan can overcome its defects and rise to the glorious country it once used to be.