On January 1st, 1959 Sudan finally became its own independent country, and it looked as if it’s history of conflict would soon come to an end. But this was not to be, throughout most of Sudan’s independent status as a country it has been in constant turmoil. For the first thirteen years, 1959-1969, an elected government ran Sudan, but in that year, 1969, the elected government would be toppled by a military coup. Ever since this incident, Sudan has been in a civil war almost indefinitely.
This rule would last for about 20 when a leader in that government rose up against them. In 1989 Lieutenant-General Omar al-Bashir took power through another coup. Shortly afterwards al-Bashir would make a decision that many people look back on and wonder why he did, this decision was al-Bashir’s shocking alliance with a man named Hassam al-Turabi. This occurred in the early 1990’s and many people knew of the close ties that al-Turabi had with Islamic Terrorist groups. He was also the Muslim cleric that was the head of the ruling party in the country, the National Congress Party (Sodaro 2008, 154). Subsequently in 1991, Osama bin Laden, was granted residence in Sudan under the protection of the National Congress Party and more specifically al-Turabi himself. Bin Laden was known for having ties with terrorist groups but was still allowed to stay in the country until 1996. During this time period a rivalry that intensified every year bin Laden stayed formed between al-Bashir and al-Turabi. This would ultimately lead to al-Bashir taking powers away from al-Turabi that had been granted to him in the years past. War was narrowly adverted shortly after this happened when al-Bashir had al-Turabi arrested, for trying to start an uprising a...
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...is trying to broker peace not only in Sudan, but in all of Africa.
In conclusion it comes down to where do the lines between comparative politics and international relations end. On one had comparative politics academics would like to study the situation and find out governmental reasons why those events are occurring in Sudan and more importantly Darfur. On the other hand you have governments around the world concerned with how this international relations problem will adversely affect the world and how they should deal with China.
Works Cited
Andersson, Hillary. 2009. China “is fueling war in Darfur”. BBC News.
Associated Press. 2009. Sudan leader faces war-crime charges. MSNBC.com.
Noueihed Lin. 2009. Sudan, Darfur rebels agree to hold peace talks. Reuters.
Sodaro, Michael J. 2008. Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill.
In September 1980, a very destructive war with Iran was started by Saddam Hussein. This was a result of an invasion in Iran. This invasion spurred an eight year war. Saddam used c...
The Darfur-Sudan genocide and the Holocaust are just two of the many mass killings of certain groups of people that have taken place all over the world. The Holocaust was the persecution and extermination of Jews, Gypsies, handicapped people and homosexuals (Holocaust). The leader of the Holocaust and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (the Nazis) was Adolf Hitler (Holocaust). He rose to power in Germany in 1933 (Holocaust). Ghettos and concentration camps were set up to isolate all who the Nazis did not qualify as “pure” (Holocaust). The Holocaust took place between1939 to 1945 (“Introduction”). The Darfur-Sudan Genocide began in 2003 and is still going on today (“Darfur Genocide”). A militia of government-supported people called the Janjaweed has been killing and destroying villages of non-Arab people (“Darfur Genocide”). Al-Bashir general of the National Islamic Front has been leading the persecution (“Darfur: A History” 18). The Holocaust and the Darfur-Sudan genocide are similar in that both their countries and leaders had the same economic status and mind set, however they are different in how the United States and other countries’ were involved and the type of war that was going on during them.
In 1898, Britain and Egypt took control over Sudan. This didn’t include Darfur, which was an independent territory ruled by a sultan. In 1916, Britain added Darfur to the territory it controlled. After World War II, in 1945, Britain and Egypt began preparing Sudan for independence. From 1945-1989, Darfur -remote from Khartoum and having invaluable resources- suffered neglect from all governments. Sudan has been independence since 1956. However, the journey that led to Sudan’s genocide in Darfur began in the late 1800s. It’s a complicated tale that involves conquest; internal politics; social, ethnical, racial, and re...
It is due this circumstance that the fight in Darfur, which originated from conflict over land, water and additional capitals amongst black farmers and Arab nomads, has transformed into a gory tragedy. The Darfur crisis has exposed the racial issues in Sudan which had been ready to burst into flames for a long period time. What makes it a racial conflict is that the Muslim Arab Janjaweed militia, are attacking black African Muslims. Both sides share the same Muslim beliefs but cannot live in harmony. If the southerners are not awarded the same rights as the northerners, they will continue to fight.
...and the fear installed in the citizens. The most powerful people in the Middle East are controlling the government financially, so it makes it hard to stand up against their wrong doings. The citizens don’t have the protection they need to feel stable if they do go against their dictators. Another reason is that they fear the punishment they’ll receive if they do stand up for themselves. They would rather endure the pain of not having freedom than the physical pain they would experience for fighting for their freedom. The Middle East’s traditional ideologies make it hard for people to change their viewpoints. Religion is how people define themselves, so once they lose that they feel like they’ve lost themselves. All in all, authoritarianism will continue to exist in the Middle East because the citizens don’t believe that having a democracy is worth the fight.
After the withdraw of Egypt and Britain, Sudan has been run by a number rickety / unstable government groups and milit...
The Darfur case however, revealed that both of these strategies are not effective. Responding to the genocide in Darfur, the US officials declared the label genocide to be occurring. Thereafter, a politically civil-society coalition emerged so as to lobby the administration. The net outcome of these two scenarios however was the same in the absence of effective policies that could halt the genocide. The Rwandan genocide has always acted as the point of reference for similar genocides taking place around the world. Since the 2003 crisis in Darfur, a lot of comparisons have been made to Rwandan genocide. Observers have likened the Darfur genocide to what happened in Rwanda and of course giving it two connotations. First, the violence in the western parts of Sudan has been referred to another Rwanda, by basing their arguments on the nature of the violence. Since whatever was happening in Darfur is similar t...
The disagreement between these two parties along with the exclusion of southern Sudan fueled civil unrest. Civil war broke out in 1955, in 1956 Sudan had become an independent nation, but the civil war continued. In 1972 a peace agreement was signed between the Southern Sudan Lib...
Iraq’s history is one of both prosperity and violence, and dates back to the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia. While dominated by a variety of civilizations, the region enjoyed a relatively stable society. Since the birth of Islam, the religion has been the dominant cultural belief of the region, and has made its way into the laws and ruling of the region. (InDepth Info, 2010)
The lost boys of Sudan did not only show courage but also perseverance when they were forced to flee their home, leaving everything behind to find safety, after their village and all their loved ones were destroyed by the war.
The Sierra Leone Civil War lasted eleven years and left Sierra Leone scared and unconstructed. The Revolutionary United Front (RUF) bombarded the country but faced constant resistance from the Sierra Leone Military. Both sides relied heavily on child soldiers throughout the war and a projected 5,000 to 10,000 child soldiers were collectively used by both the Sierra Leone government and the RUF. These children forcibly entered into a life of violence and oppression, and they have since struggled to reintegrate back into society. Child soldiers have returned home with no family or future and many still face severe complications.
Tadesse, Debay. Post-independence South Sudan: the challenges ahead. ISPI-ISTITUTO PER GU STUDI DI POLITICA INTERNAZIONALE. February 2012.no.46.
...most distressed by outcome of a war, could exercise only inadequate control on the issue of armed action against Iraq. Most of the regional actors discarded the U.S. policy towards Iraq with varying intensity as they feared insecurity after Iraq’s disintegration (Reuters, 2003) whereas; Jordan decided not to endanger its rewarding ties with Washington. Another key actor at this level is the Baathi party in Iraq which was based on tribal division, domestic oppression and economic enticement. Under Baathi regime military, bureaucracy and security services was divided into several competing institutions which reinforced Hussein’s dictatorship in Iraq. In the post war Iraq, the USA in collaboration with the Iraq National Congress and the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution started to make Iraq a democracy that is similar to the American political culture and values.
The rise of this conflict can be traced back to European colonialism. As the British Empire continued to expand it incorporated Sudan into it’s empire in the 1890s. However at the time, Sudan was not the Sudan that is knew pre-2011. There were two a North and a South Sudan. The north was predominatingly a Arabic speaking Muslim North, and the south an English speaking Christian South. To prevent Egypt claiming North Sudan, the British combined the two regions into one. It can be classified as this being the start of the conflict. The two regions, were culturally,religiously, and ethnically different. Tensions were bound to rise based on these issues. When the British colonialism ended and Sudan declared independence in 1956, the borders were not altered. The country was still united into one Sudan. The British like most Colonial powers left the nation with an unstable government structure. The British supported the North more than it did the South, thus creating resentment and tensions between the two after the end of colonialism.
The recent Civil War in Congo has been a bloody flight, causing more then 3.3 million deaths in just 4 short years.1 Various rebel and ethnic groups have have been involved in the violence, fighting over Congo's rich natural resources or engaged in a bitter ethnic war. With so many opposing factions, it has made reaching a solution difficult. While a rough peace treaty has been established, sporadic fighting pops up in the country everyday. The people of Congo are being pushed farther into poverty and starvation can't handle the fighting for very much longer. I propose that the solution to the post-Civil War violence in Congo is to rid the country of all foreign nations and their problems, namely the Rwandans, and to get combatants inside of the country to hold a summit and find a peaceful and fair resolution to the problem, with a superpower like the United States acting as host and mediator. Once all quarrels are amended, the Congolese can start to focus on a economic strategy for rebuilding the country.