Sudan - Yesterday and Today

Sudan is the largest country in Africa with mainly muslins in North Sudan and Christians in South Sudan. Sudan is almost double the size of America. It’s a very diverse country with customs that differ according to tribe, region, social position and life experience. There has been an ongoing civil war between the Muslim North and the Christian South.

In 1972, a region of the South was granted independence on certain internal matters under a peace agreement, which led to a ending of the North/South civil war and a 10-year ceasefire. Because he wanted control of the vast amount of oil the President of Sudan attempted to link portion of the South rich in oil with the North in 1982. The people of Sudan spoke out and the plan never materialized. A short time later an oil refinery was established in the North. The plan was to construct an oil pipeline running from the oil fields of the South to the refineries located in the North for export overseas1.

A year later the President of Sudan imposed Islamic law on Sudanese society, incorporating traditional Islamic sanctions into the legal system. The President declared a state of emergency to make certain that Islamic law was followed in both the North and the South. In the North public beatings for alcohol possession were a common practice during the state of emergency.

These events and other ongoing disagreements led to the eruption on of the civil war in 1983, which continues as a write this paper. The most recent civil conflict, which is over 20 years old, has left mast destruction of Sudanese people with over two million deaths. The war rooted in disputes over religion, ethnicity, resources, governance and self-determination has resulted in widespread destruction of community ...

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...ealth is based upon how much cattle one owns. Nowadays it is expected that the bridegroom pay in both cash and cattle. Kenyan shillings are the preferred currency. Both sides of the families discuss clauses of marriage which would be like a pre-nuptial agreement in American culture.

The difference between an American prenuptial agreement and Muslim marriage clauses are that most American pre-nuptial agreements are done in front of a lawyer in private and Muslim wedding ceremony is held with the sermon and then the mentioning of the marriage conditions in front of the guests and with a minimum of two witnesses and the guardian of the bride 2.

Works Cited

http://sudan.usembassy.gov/sudanese_cultural_customs.html

CIA, The World Factbook – Sudan. (July 2004 est), at:www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/su.html1. http://countrystudies.us/sudan/47.htm