Sudan became an independent republic 55 years ago yesterday. The British had previously administered northern Sudan, with its culturally Arabic Muslim population as a separate unit from southern Sudan, with its culturally sub-Saharan Animist/Christian population. Tensions between north and south were obvious well before independence, and the country was born with a southern secessionist guerrilla movement.
The First Sudanese Civil War continued on and off, with some 500,000 deaths, until 1972 when a peace agreement was negotiated after mediation through the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches. The agreement created a southern administrative region, but repeated infringements created insecurity which had by 1983 escalated into the Second Sudanese Civil War.
The Second Sudanese Civil War, which lasted until January 2005, resulted in the deaths of around 2 million people from war, famine and disease. This war ended with the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which contained a number of protocols including ones relating to governance, power sharing, wealth sharing, resolution of conflicts, and security arrangements. In accordance with the terms of the agreements, the people of southern Sudan were entitled to vote on the issue of independence from northern Sudan, and South Sudan became a separate country last year.