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THE POLITRICKS OF DAFUR
In primary school I was given the notion that Africa is a lovely land full of vast natural resources and great people that when put together will help put the continent on a sound footing.
What do we see in recent times? There is not a single day that you read news papers, listen to radio or watch television news that you would not hear or read about crisis on this once peaceful continent.
What is making news headlines now is what is happening is the Sudan region of Darfur.
Sudan ,which is the largest country in Africa has been making news for many years now kind courtesy the civil war ,which was seen as “the Arab –Muslim north fighting a religious war against the African -Christian south.
The civil war coupled with famine became the news of the day with various agreements being signed to broker peace in the country. Geographically Sudan has an area totaling one million square miles which is quarter the size of the United States of America and exactly the size of France.
It is located in the Northwest of Africa on the Red sea, south of Egypt, bordering with nine countries: Libya in the Northwest, Chad, Central Africa and D.R.C in the west; Uganda in the south, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the southeast and east.
Its capital Khartoum or the (elephant) snout. The location of the city, where the blue and white Niles confluence, from an elephant snout.
The meaning of Sudan which literally means the land of black people has a population of about 33 million people with about 200 languages and dialects, making it a country with diverse cultures.
A country that was declared independence on the first of January 1956 has not really enjoyed peace since. After its independence from Britain, Sudan has been wrecked by a vicious civil war which has so far claimed about two million lives and displaced an even bigger number of people .With the exception of about 11years starting with the signing of the peace agreement in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa in 1972,the war never stopped.
This was as a result of consecutive central government in the north fighting rebels from the south. Originally, the south wanted more political autonomy and fair share of the country’s wealth.
It was a closed area during the British colonial rule, where both parts of the country were kept administratively and culturally separated.
Other issues developed latter as the conflict kept dragging on and got more complex. In 1983, president Numeiri nullified the Addis Ababa agreement and later in the year introduced what he called the sharia laws (strict interpretation of Islamic law).A rebellion followed and continued until today. With the takeover of the current Islamic government in 1989 and its desire to Islamize the country. Religion became the main issue. Sudan has moved from one stage of war to the other, with particular reference to western Sudan which is being torn apart by a year- long conflict that has escalated from tribal fight to become an international humanitarian disaster.
Over one million people are already displaced and an estimated 30 thousand .people have been killed.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN?...
Details
in the current edition.
Ekow Mensah Shalders
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