Sudanese Civil War

The Root Causes of the Sudanese Civil Wars

ENG4U

By: Jonathan Westerveld

For: Ms. Regnerus

December 18, 2013

The Root Causes of The Sudanese Civil Wars

1. Introduction

-Introduce who, what, when, where about Sudanese Civil War.

-Thesis: The Sudanese Civil War was an abomination of human rights that was caused by racial discrimination, unequal distribution of wealth/power, and religious prejudice.

2. Results of Racial discrimination (race)

A)Statehood and government discriminating against Africans

B) Arab's vs Africans

C)Racials identity

D) Slave trade

3. Unequal Distribution of wealth/power

A) time of peace before oil

B) Northern government's tactics to access oil reserves

C) South continues to live in poverty

4. Religious Prejudice (religion)

A) Religious makeup of Sudan

B) Impact of imposing Sharia Law

C) Why Sharia is bad

5. Paragraph about the victims

6.Conclusion

-Restate three points and tie them together

-A prediction / suggestion of what could happen in the future

The Sudanese Civil Wars, spanning over forty years, was considered one of Africa's bloodiest and longest civil wars. The war consisted of the same thing people have fought over for centuries: race, riches, and religion. The Sudanese controversies were between a variety of parties: Muslims against Animists and Christians, North against South, and Arabs against Aboriginals. Economic interests such as vast oil reserves held unequally by the Muslim government also fueled the war. The Sudanese Civil Wars were caused by the major factors of racial discrimination, unequal distribution of wealth and religious prejudice, which lead numerous conflicts and breakdown of human rights.

There is a vast array of different racial groups in Sudan, leading to racial discrimination that caused the widespread breakdown of human rights. Sudan is one of the most ethnically divided countries in the world (Vale, "Is the Sudan conflict best understood in terms of race, religion, or regionalism?"). Sudan is a multicultural country, home to hundreds of indigenous ethnic groups, Arab migrants, and many African ancestries. Racial diversity has caused constant clashes that have lead to mass killing, starvation and ethnic cleansing groups. Racial diversity has led to intensified racism in Sudan.

Race had been a major cause of strife in Sudan since its independence from Britain in 1956. Historically, the Arab Muslims and black Africans have not gotten along. This was due to the fact that they were forced to integrate into a state known as Sudan. This happened during Britain's colonization of Africa. The forced combination of these historically, animosity-filled ethnicities caused Sudan to be faulty since its independence (Vale, "Is the Sudan conflict best understood in terms of race, religion, or regionalism?"). Forcing the two ethnicities to become one nation was the beginning of the racial tension in Sudan.
Ever since independence from Britain, Arabs in northern Sudan have exclusively held political and military power over the entire country. However, the southern region of Sudan has not been represented fairly in a democratic government. The exclusion of the black southerners from government has caused the legislation to continually fall unequally in favour of the North. The South is not able to gain a political foothold and must abide by the biased governmental laws. This bias is mainly attributed to racial identity.

Racial identity was a determining factor in Sudanese discrimination and conflict. Racial identity is defined as the stereotyping of ethnicities based on prior events. In North Sudan, the Arabs have created a sense of superiority over the Africans in the South. In the South, Sudanese Africans have developed a strong racial identity based on remaining resilient to Northern Arab culture. The South is determined to remain unassimilated by the Arabs of the North. The formation of strong racial identity created conflict and conflict created a strong sense of racial identity (Vale, "Is the Sudan conflict best understood in terms of race, religion, or regionalism?"). Racial identity led to racism because Sudanese groups distinguished themselves and others based solely on the colour of their skin. Sudanese groups failed to see past ethnic barriers. Rather, they focused on hatred towards other ethnicities.

Racial identity and the racism that followed, was ignited centuries ago. The tension between the Arab North and African South derives from slavery that stems back thousands of years. Sudan means "land of the Blacks" and for many centuries it has been a source of black slaves for Arab slave traders (Wilkes 12). The Arabs justified their slave trade with the Koran, which permits domination of other ethnic groups. As the slave trade developed, distinctions among slaves were made based on race, ethnicity, and religion. Many of these distinctions marked the Southerners as infidels and therefore fit to be slaves (Jok,"War and Slavery in Sudan"). These ancient distinctions have survived and promoted oppression towards the southern Sudanese and has promoted hatred towards the Arabs.

In addition to racial discrimination, a second factor responsible for creating tension is the unequal distribution of wealth, resulting in the northern Muslim government holding much of the prosperity. The discovery of oil in 1978 caused hope that the standard of living would increase for impoverished Southern Sudan. Unfortunately, these plentiful oil wells were more of a curse than a blessing. The opportunity to benefit financially from these oil wells reignited conflict in Sudan. The North and South battled over complete control of the oil. Prior to the discovery of oil, there had been peace in Sudan for eleven years. Thus, peace was destroyed by the desire for wealth.

The history of the Sudanese economic livelihood is correlated to the history of Sudanese conflict. A time of peace came in 1972 when President Numeiri granted partial autonomy to southern Sudan due to the Addis Ababa Agreement. The South had been fighting for this secession since 1962 ("Addis Ababa Agreement"). The North accepted the agreement because they realized the war had devastated many of their resources and lives.

However, in 1983, the American energy company, Chevron, discovered oil in southern Sudan. Immediately, Northern Sudan sought to regain southern Sudan. They wanted to benefit from wealth derived from the oil. The Addis Ababa Agreement was abolished by the northern government. The autonomous region in the South was rejoined and again governed by the North. President Numeiri and his government were able to control the oil and benefit from it.

As stated above, the discovery of oil in the South reignited the tensions between the two opponents. The Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) is a rebel group that promotes the rights of the South. The SPLA attacked oil wells and kidnapped three Chevron employees. The Northern government increased protection of the precious and infinitely profitable oil wells and fought against the SPLA. Despite the SPLA's best efforts there was no change in the possession of the oil. The South watched with envy as the northern Sudanese developed the oil fields and gained all the wealth.

Sudan's gross domestic product grew from ten billion dollars in 1999, when oil exports began. To fifty three billion dollars in 2008. Per capita income jumped from $334 to $532 in the same period. Almost all of that growth was in the north. Today Sudan's north boasts thousands of miles of highways and a giant new hydroelectric dam. The South meanwhile, has just 60 miles of paved roads (Morrison, "South Sudan's oil curse").

Even with the promising oil in southern Sudan, no economic growth could be achieved because the North controls all the oil fields. The North continued to become richer and the South remained a poor region. However, wealth was one of the factors to contribute to the civil war.

A third contributing factor of the Sudanese Civil War is religious prejudice. There are many religions in Sudan that can be categorized into Islam, Christianity, and tribal religions. These three religious groups tend to be in disagreement with each other often. Many countries around the world are able to tolerate multiple religions but Sudan seems to be unable to accept religious diversity. One of the major motivations behind this type of conflict was religious intolerance amongst the Sudanese. Religious intolerance is not accepting people's right to practice their religion.

Religious identity was a major dividing factor that added to the tension that caused the civil war. Seventy percent of Sudan's population is Muslim. Almost all of these Muslims live in the Northern half of Sudan. Twenty-five percent of Sudan holds traditional indigenous beliefs. Christianity makes up five percent of Sudan. Most Christians and indigenous religion believers live in the southern part of Sudan (Hermann, "Sudan: The Quick and the Terrible"). As one can see, there is great religious diversity.

Conflict can be also correlated with rise and fall of religious tolerance. Religious conflict began when President Numeiri imposed Sharia on the entire nation of Sudan. Sharia is the path the Muslim must follow It brings together elements from the Koran and the Hadith, both which are Muslim holy books. It contains detailed instructions for every aspect of life and harsh consequences for breaking these instructions (Warburg, "Sharia Law and Women"). Three years after independence from Britain an Arab officer named General Abboud led a movement to topple the military controlled government. The main aim of the mutiny was to Islamize and Arabize Sudan (Domke, "Civil War in the Sudan Resources or Religion"). This was done through the implementation of Sharia. Soon after this, war broke out in 1962. The Addis Ababa agreement allowed for eleven years of peace until 1983. Sharia was also implemented by president Numeiri in 1983 through the abolition of the Addis Ababa agreement. Civil war broke out again. Both times when Sharia was implemented it results in almost imminent war.

Sharia has not worked in Sudan because it implements harsh justice and irrelevant to non-Muslim people. Here is where conflict and the breakdown of human rights intersect. Those who do not conform to Sharia are persecuted. Religious prejudice, specifically the implementation of Sharia, caused conflict amongst the Sudanese.

On a micro scale, the results of racial discrimination, unequal distribution of wealth, and religious prejudice created an impoverished environment for the civilians of Sudan. Many people in this region of Africa lived by subsistence farming. When they were disrupted by war they were forced to abandon their precious crops and animals. Famine and disease became greater threats to the Sudanese than the fighting itself (Wilkes 10). The rape of young children is prevalent. Many moral atrocities, including the genocide of over two million people in Darfur ("Military"), were the result of the Sudanese Civil Wars. In fact, the Sudanese Civil Wars has had more casualties than the wars in Angola, Bosnia, Chechnya, Kosovo, Liberia, the Persian Gulf, Sierra Leone, Somalia and Rwanda combined (Bernstein Xvii).

The Sudanese Civil Wars resulted when the North would implicate actions that would only benefit themselves, while discarding the rights and freedoms of the South Sudan. This was seen in fights over racial discrimination, distribution of wealth and religious prejudices. These North and South could not see past their differences, which caused a disruption in progression and freedom for civilians. Unfortunately, this conflict, one of the longest civil war, remains. This war will be ongoing if the racial, economic and religious inequalities are not resolved.

Works Cited

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Bernstein, Judy. They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky. New York: Public Affairs, 2005. Print

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Vale, Richard. "Is the Sudan Conflict Best Understood in Terms of Race, Religion, or Regionalism?" EInternational Relations RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.

"The Translator Additional Resources." The Translator Additional Resources. A Darfur Primer, n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2013.

Warburg. "Sharia Law and Women." Sharia Law and Women. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2013.

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Wilkes, Sybella. One Day We Had to Run. London: Evans Brothers Limited, 1994. Print.