British Imperialism and the Crisis in the Sudan

4136 Words9 Pages

British Imperialism and the Crisis in the Sudan

Introduction

One of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis is currently unfolding in the Darfur region of the Sudan. For the past 22 months, more than 70,000 Sudanese have been killed, and nearly 2 million people have fled their homes to neighboring countries. This paper attempts to explore this present day civil war and genocide taking place in the Sudan. This is an event of epic proportions that will have vast implications for the future of the country and the continent. Understanding the history of European colonialism in Africa, as focused through the lense of the Sudan, is the purpose of this paper. Primarily, the paper will analyze the history of European imperialism in the region of the Sudan, and attempt to understand how the British occupation of the country provided the framework and foundation for many of the problems today. Furthermore this paper will explore the implications that this genocide will have in the international realm of politics; the lack of media exposure of such an horrific event is another avenue of exploration in this paper.

In present day Sudan the country is divided across political and religious lines that are so deeply rooted that a peace resolution does not seem likely in the near future. The world is simply waiting and hoping that the conflict will be resolved internally without aid from the outside world. The manner in which the world is responding to the conflict in the Sudan is indicative of the manner in which the world has always viewed Africa and its people. Dating back to as early the 1400s the world has always viewed the people of Africa as second-class citizens and have treated them as such. This mindset still p...

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...aphy

Anderson, G. Norman. Sudan in Crisis: The Failure of Democracy. Gainesville: University Press of Florida,1999.

Khalid,Mansour. War and Peace in Sudan.London: Kegan Paul, 2003.

Thomas, Graham F. Sudan: Struggle for Suvival. London: Darf Publishers Ltd., 1990.

Voll, John O. Sudan: State and Society in Crisis. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

The Economist. 31 July 2004.

“Human Rights Watch.” http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/08/27/darfur9268.htm 27 August 2004.

“Socialist Party.” http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/sep04/

“Oxfam News”.http://oxfam.ca/news/Sudan/Q&A2.htm. November 2004.

“Socialist.net”.http://www.socialistworld.net/index2.html?/eng/2004/09/07sudan.html.

“BBC News”.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm.

“U.S. Department of State”.http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5424.htm. October 2004.

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