Sudan
From Missiopedia
- Return to Countries
- Back to North Africa
|
Official name: |
DEMOGRAPHY
ECONOMY |
LIFE & LIBERTY |
Contents |
[edit] Geography
[edit] Location
- Sudan is the largest country on the African continent with lands ranging from predominantly desert in the north, to tropical bush in the south, and grasslands and mountains in between.
[edit] Region
[edit] Climate
[edit] Natural Resources
- Oil was discovered in the south by Chevron in 1979.
[edit] Demographics
[edit] Peoples
- Approximately 40 million people live here, and they are divided ethnically with primarily Arabs occupying the north and black Africans residing in the south. Within these two areas are six hundred different ethnic groups speaking a hundred different languages.
- cluster Arab, Sudan
- Aka
- Shaikia is an Arab tribe who is originally from an area Northwest of Khartoum.
- Fur people who have immigrated to Shendi, fleeing the conflict in Dar Fur.
- Gule
- Gawamaa
- Ja'alayin - they live in Shendi
- Lawahin
- Mandala
- Masakin, Dayik
- Masalit in Dafur/Sudan (195,000) - people cluster Ouaddai-Fur.
- Medani live in Shendi, Gadaref, Nyala, El Fasher, Geneina, El Obeid, Port Sudan, Kassala, and Wad.
- Miserriya nomads
- Lafofa (700)
- Rashaida
- Shagiya - they live in Shendi
- Tama in Sudan (57,000)
- Tulishi, Kandangi
[edit] Language
A list of the languages used in Sudan: Global Recordings
[edit] Provinces
- Sudan is a big country and therefore divided into different geographical or political areas. The so-called contention areas lie between North and South Sudan and consist of Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile. These areas derive their name (contention areas) from the fact that it falls geographically between two different border lines that were drawn at different times between North and South Sudan. The original border line was shifted downwards in colonial days by the colonial authorities, thereby expanding the territory of North Sudan.
- At present South Sudanese claim that the original border must be taken as the historically correct one whereas North Sudanese state that the new border must be accepted in the discussions about possible separation in 2011. No clear agreement could be reach during peace talks leading up to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in January 2005. For this reason the following arrangement was made: prior to the election in 2011 (when Sudanese citizens will vote for unification or separation) the three contention areas must indicate whether they want to belong to North or South Sudan. Should separation take place each contention area will be included in the country of their choice, namely the New North Sudan or the New South Sudan.
- Since all three areas are strategic in terms of the oil industry in Sudan, both North and South Sudan desire to get hold of these areas. This place Abyei, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile in an unenviable position. Whatever decision they make, they are going to make themselves unpopular with either North or South Sudan. If separation does not take place they may be targeted by the group they voted not to join and this can make the lives of the people living there very hard.
- The peace was signed in January 2005 and is already becoming fragile. So how long will it last? But we have a mighty God who is sovereign over all of Sudan and with Him nothing is impossible.
- Sudan is the land of the biblical Cush. Let's claim the beautiful prophecy given to Zephaniah that: "From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshippers, my scattered people, will bring me offerings." Zephaniah 3:10
- The Cities of Sudan
- Khartoum, capital of the country, 7 - 10 million
- Juba, capital of Southern Sudan, about 200,000
- JUBA IS EXCELLENT! A young evangelist preaching and teaching the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) around Juba, south Sudan writes, "I have established four Army Christian Fellowships. I have received order from high commanders to teach the soldiers, because the word of God is only word that can change a life from hostility to peaceful life. Some of the commanders say that most of the soldiers drink a lot of beer, which cause problems in camps/barracks. In the last two years I have seen a great change in these camps, many soldiers been delivered for drunkenness and healing take place. Surely as the word of God says “the word that proceed out of my mouth will not return empty but will accomplish”."
- El Obeid: Nestled towards the geographical centre of Kordofan, El Obeid is one of the larger cities of Sudan.
- Kassala, 300,000 is in the east, bordering Eritrea
- Port Sudan is the only significant port for the whole country, but has only one hotel with a website.
- Shendi is located on the east side of the Nile River about 3 hours north of Khartoum. The population of Shendi is approximately 64 000. However, there are a large number of villages surrounding Shendi where the population swells to approximately 292 000 people. Its proximity to Khartoum enables many to commute from Shendi to Khartoum for work. The Ja'alayin and Shagiya are the 2 main tribes resident in the city. However, some Fur people have immigrated to Shendi, fleeing the conflict in Dar Fur.
[edit] Life
Sudan air crash remains a mystery
- 10 June 2008: Air accident investigators are still trying to discover what caused an airliner to skid off a runway and burst into flames on landing in Khartoum. At least 29 passengers and crew were killed but 171 managed to escape, the Sudan Civil Aviation Authority said. As the wreckage of the Airbus was being examined a fuel tank overheated in the summer sun and exploded, injuring two civil defence workers. The Sudan Airways plane skidded off the runway at Khartoum International Airport and hit navigation poles marking the end of the runway, sparking a fire on the right side of the aircraft. One survivor said the landing was "rough" and there was a sharp impact several minutes later. He said smoke got into the cockpit and some people started opening the emergency exits. Soon, fire engulfed the plane, he said. Passenger Kamal Eddin Mohammed said that "as we landed, the engine burst into flame - I was sitting right next to it. It was horror inside the plane." A sandstorm had earlier hit the area with 20 mph winds and there was a thunderstorm and similar winds at the time of the crash. But there were differing reports on the role weather played.
[edit] Refugees from other countries
- Eastern Sudan is home to an estimated 130,000 refugees, most of them from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia, according to UNHCR. Close to 100,000 of them live in 12 camps where they receive international help. However, poor living conditions and lack of prospects force some, including women and children, to make dangerous journeys, often aided by smugglers, in search of a better life.
[edit] Economy
- Traditionally a self-sustaining region, Sudan became an large exporter of cotton to England under British rule after the defeat of the Mahdist forces in 1899. British administration and investment provided advances in health, civil infrastructure and economic development. To accommodate larger ships, Port Sudan opened in 1905, the Blue Nile was dammed, irrigation schemes launched and railways to the coast were constructed.
- Oil was discovered in the south by Chevron in 1979, and a pipeline to the coast has been built. Exports were limited due to the civil war in the south, and rebel fighting in the east. Peace agreements were signed, in January 2005 with the south, and October 2006 with the Eastern Front. Oil now flows to a refinery on the coast and Chinese ships carry oil every day from a port that has been built in the duty free zone south of Port Sudan.
- Chinese money paid for a $79 million dollar rehabilitation of Port Sudan in the early 2000's. With mechanization of the harbour for container ships to access new docks, over 20,000 stevedores were put out of work.
- A 9km wide dam across the Nile River at Merowe is planned for completion in 2009, and when power generation is fully operational, the electricity generated in Sudan will double to about 20,000 kwh. Power lines will extend eastward to Port Sudan, and southward to Khartoum. A new highway was opened in April 2008 from Port Sudan to Atbara on the Nile.
- Until oil exports began, agricultural products such as dates, cotton and gum arabic were the main source of foreign income. Camels are exported to Egypt.
- In both the east and the west, nomadic tribes regularly have conflict with farmers, and traditional methods of resovlving competing demands for limited pasture resources are becoming less workable.
[edit] Government
- Sudan’s recent civil war resulted in peace for the south, bringing an opportunity to rebuild its devastated infrastructure. Christians need major help in rebuilding this region, such as support for schooling for refugees, medical assistance, training, rebuilding, and aid for those in strife-torn Darfur.
- Violence in Darfur is devastating. The conflict began when rebels rose against the Khartoum government, complaining of economic and political marginalization. The government provided arms to small militias, now known as the Janjaweed, to crush the rebellion. The Janjaweed are a militia that have become notorious for racist rhetoric, massacre, rape, and forced displacement. At least tens of thousands have died; international figures project hundreds of thousands. There are more than 3.5 million people in Darfur who are completely reliant on international aid. Tragically, over two million more have been displaced as a result of the fighting and are now living in sprawling camps in Darfur and in neighboring Chad.
- Abyei is a volatile region jointly claimed by South and North Sudan. The resumption of heavy fighting between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army in Abyei has caused total destruction of Abyei town, the dislocation of almost 100,000 residents, and fears of further breakdown of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Widespread looting and destruction by SAF soldiers has been reported by UN, South Sudanese, and NGO observers. This conflict could lead to resumption of full scale armed conflict between the Government of Sudan and the people of Southern Sudan. The Government of Sudan's National Congress Party (NCP), willfully or otherwise, set the stage for this conflict by its recent unilateral rejection of the findings of the Abyei Border Commission, which the NCP earlier had agreed to accept under the CPA. This, along with other CPA implementation shortfalls, has led some observers to conclude that the NCP will not meet its commitments under the CPA. The obvious action to defuse the current situation is for both the SAF and SPLA to depart from Abyei and place a significant UN force (taken from the deployed UNAMID forces) in the region to maintain order. The longer term peace will be assured only if the international community places the same diplomatic focus on implementation of the CPA that it devoted to the establishment of the CPA.
- June 08: The Bible Skills Institutes in the Sudan was started immediately after the peace accord was sign between the Muslim North and Christian South. But after three years there has never been agreement on the border between the two. There has been no agreement on the border or administration of Abyei, which supplies around half of the country's 500,000 barrels of oil a day. The Sudan is China's big supplier of oil and China is Northern Sudan's big supplier of weapons. One thousand North Sudan Muslim troops are on their way from Khartoum to the disputed town of Abyei. This confrontation threatens the dozens of schools we have in the Sudan and to expansion. The leaders of the schools to be prepared to bury the equipment or to move it out of the country. After three years of rebuilding the Southern Sudan where 1.5 million were killed, and the infrastructure destroyed, this is a sad development that calls for prayers across the Christian world.
- June 08. The Abyei Road Map. Due to objections by the National Congress Party (NCP), the Abyei Protocol of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 was not implemented, but hope now arises that a peaceful settlement is possible as a result of the road map signed last week by the NCP and the SPLM. The parties have committed to allowing the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) freedom of movement in Abyei for the first time. The road map also calls for the establishment of an interim administration for the disputed area and an orderly return of the displaced to their villages and towns by the end of this month.*
- Sudan's General Elections: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended the 21 year war between the Government of Sudan and its Southern citizens requires that Presidential and parliamentary elections on national and state levels must be held before July 2009. Recently, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) Secretary-General Pagan Amum warned that the SPLM would not accept any delay in the date of general elections.
[edit] Religion
- Islam 65%, Christianity 23.2%, Traditional 10.6%
- Small seeds were perhaps sown in previous decades when European culture and religion influenced the southern peoples. Today the Christian Church is growing fast there among the many African ethnic groups.
- In contrast, the northern two-thirds of Sudan are predominantly Islamic and those residents are ruled by Sharia law, where converting from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy. Conversion is punishable by death, although that penalty is rarely carried out. Instead, converts in the North are generally regarded as outcasts by their families and face severe social pressure to recant, and southern Christians who reside in the North suffer from social, educational, and job discrimination. The Constitution, which was implemented in early 1999, does provide freedom of religion for the Sudanese. In practice, however, the Government severely restricts this right and treats Islam as not only the state religion but also the inspiration for the country's laws, institutions, and policies.
[edit] Islam
- Islam claims that its teachings are the absolute truth. But in Islam there is another doctrine, which allows people to tell lies in some circumstances. This is the doctrine of taqiyya which means dissimulation. It allows Muslims to tell lies in order to save their lives, or their honour, or their property. It was developed during persecution, but now has become quite normal. This doctrine concerns the making and breaking of treaties. This will clearly affect the situation in Sudan. According to the Islamic rules about warfare, Muslims are allowed only to make temporary peace treaties with non-Muslims. These treaties should last no more than ten years. If, after a while, such a treaty is no longer advantageous to the Muslims, they must break it. This has very clear implications for Sudan. The treaty that the Islamic North signed with the non-Islamic South, cannot be said to be advantageous to the North, for it promises half the oil money and tax revenues to the South and agrees, in some measure, to share power with the South.
[edit] Buddhism
[edit] Christianity
[edit] History
[edit] Churches
- The Sudanese believers are plagued by a lack of unity. Distrust within the culture, government infiltration of churches for the purposes of searching for converts, tribal conflict and prejudice and many other factors breed disunity and have paralysed many of the believers in Sudan.
- Often many of these same satanic attacks bleed into the foreign community as well, creating mistrust among Christian workers.
[edit] Church and State Relations
There is supposed to be freedom of religion in Sudan.
[edit] Persecution
- The Christians in the South face very little persecution or discrimination. The Open Doors World Watch List makes a distinction between north and south Sudan, noting that south Sudan does not rank as a region that heavily persecutes Christians.
- The Sudanese believers have suffered greatly at the hands of the Arabs. Their lands have been stolen. Their relatives have been killed. Yet, some are choosing to say, "We will not hate the Arabs for what they have done. Rather, we will share with them the love of Christ." Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, 'But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you'. These men and women are living examples of this verse.
- Pray that God will continue to call out Sudanese believers to form church planting teams.
- Pray that the churches will lead the effort of training the people in their congregation to reach out to Muslims.
- Pray that the leaders of these congregations will have a growing, unquenchable passion to plant churches among Muslims in Sudan.
- At this stage there is improvement in Sudan. Until 2005 Sudan was rated in the top 10 persecuted but after 2007 the rating is much lower. There seems to be stronger religous activities all over Sudan and churches do have freedom, but once an individual wants to accept Jesus the rest of his family or even tribe is going to reject him. This why it is important to pray for Open Homes, so that the whole family as a Unity could be saved.
[edit] Mission
- A consignment of scriptures that were dispatched to Darfur has arrive (Dec. 2007). Some ingenuity was needed to get them through the various hazards, but there is confirmation that they have arrived. Until just recently, Darfur has been one of the most closed regions in sub-Saharan Africa, partly because of the authorities but mainly because the people themselves were very hostile to the Gospel. That has changed and there are significant breakthroughs. Please pray for the new believing communities emerging there.
- Darfur: 20 years ago a team was stoned, when it tried to distribute Christian literature, now at the same place many came to an Open-air meeting and responded to the message. The suffering during the civil war has made them hungry to hear the message of the Prince of Peace.
- During the civil war in South Sudan many Christians have lost their Bibles. This year (2008) to NGOs from the United States of America, World-Gospel-Mission and Samaritan's Purse, are planning to distribute 250,000 Bible among the Christians there to replace their lost ones.
- One of the great resources for harvest in Sudan is the Ethiopian/Eritrean refugees and immigrants. Some of these precious Christians are passing through the country. Some have been born here and grew up speaking only Arabic. Commonly they have a passion for prayer and evangelism, they speak Arabic, and in culture and colour they look just like Sudanese Arabs.
- FOCUS stands for the Fellowship of Christian University Students in the Sudan. It is an interdenominational fellowship of students and graduates and it exists to reach students in every campus with the Gospel and to send them out to bear witness to Christ and his teaching.
- FOCUS is strategically placed to play a catalytic role in impacting both the church and wider society in the country. FOCUS# vision for the next five years before the transitional period is over, is for students and graduates to shine the light of the Gospel to all parts of Sudan. FOCUS plays a big role in national events and in reaching students on campus and graduates in the market place with the Gospel.
- The heartbeat of this movement is to see the least reached students and graduates reached with the Gospel. Reaching them with the Gospel today is reaching the leaders of tomorrow and they will transform this nation by the power of God. FOCUS organised a mission's conference from the 24th Dec 2006 - 4th Jan 2007. Students and graduates were challenged for missions. Many people encounter God's power to be involved in missions and/or support missionary work.
- Short-term outreaches are another activity to encourage students for mission. The FOCUS-week is a book exhibition, which is one of the most powerful tools for reaching non-Christians with the Gospel. Through Christian literature books and cassettes over 700- 1000 people hear the Gospel.
- Calvary Ministries
- Started in 1995 by just one missionary in the Sudan, the work of Calvary Ministries (CM) has now grown to 18 missionaries working full-time in four different locations. CM's main goal is to start house churches among least reached people groups outside of Khartoum and to mobilize and train others to do the same. CM also has 12 full-time Sudanese missionaries working and living among Muslims in three regions outside of Khartoum.
- Included in CM's very ambitious goals are to open six new fields of work, hold 10 Bible exhibitions in remote least reached communities, to train 3 000 people in Sudan in discipleship and missions, and to place 20 new Sudanese believers in the mission field. This year CM plans to start a full-time mission's training school to equip Sudanese believers to possess the Sudan for Christ, "no matter what the cost."
- Prayer Requests
- Pray for continued purposefulness, provision, protection, and perseverance for CM missionaries as they work in distant and difficult communities.
- Pray that the fruit from this first harvest will both survive and reproduce.
- Pray that Sudanese believers will take up the challenge of reaching their own least reached people groups for the Lord.
[edit] Video
- Business people have been quick to see the demand for video entertainment in Sudan. Roadside theatres in towns, showing English Premiership football or action/war films, are crowded with customers 2 or 3 times a day.
- The Jesus film, produced by New Life Ministries in Sudanese Arabic, Dinka, Nuer, Bari, Ma'di and Moru, is the only Christian video that has reached comparable audiences, mainly on a big screen with a portable generator and projector. Since the peace agreement, better electrical equipment is available everywhere, and some local churches are beginning to use Christian videos. God's Story, an overview of the Bible, has recently been produced in Dinka Padang, and a Bari version is in progress. Both video cassette and digital video master will be available.
- Prayer points
- Resources for Christian videos to be shown instead of videos that have little value.
- Training of Sudanese Christians so that relevant films and videos can be produced in Sudanese languages.
- Cooperation between different agencies using both the Jesus film and (in future) God's Story videos to maximise impact.
[edit] Broadcasting
[edit] Councils and Networks
[edit] Future Trends
[edit] For More Reading
