Location of Sudan. Source: Vardion/Wikipedia

Map of Sudan. Source: CIA World Factbook

Sudan is a nation is northern-Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt to the north and Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast. It is the largest country in Africa by area. The Nile River flows through Sudan. Its main tributaries, the Blue Nile (originating in Ethiopia) and the White Nile (originating in Lake Victoria and its feeding rivers) converge at Khartoum, its capitol. Dominated by the Sahara Desert in the north, Sudan is a generally flat, featureless plain with mountains in far south, northeast and west. .

Sudan's major environmental issues include: inadequate supplies of potable water; wildlife populations threatened by excessive hunting; soil erosion; and, desertification. It is susceptible to dust storms and periodic persistent droughts.

Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the United Kingdom in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972 but broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than four million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more than two million deaths over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords. The final North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005, granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years. After which, a referendum for independence is scheduled to be held. A separate conflict, which broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003, has displaced nearly two million people and caused an estimated 200,000 to 400,000 deaths. The UN took command of the Darfur peacekeeping operation from the African Union on 31 December 2007. As of early 2009, peacekeeping troops were struggling to stabilize the situation, which has become increasingly regional in scope, and has brought instability to eastern Chad, and Sudanese incursions into the Central African Republic. Sudan also has faced large refugee influxes from neighboring countries, primarily Ethiopia and Chad. Armed conflict, poor transport infrastructure, and lack of government support have chronically obstructed the provision of humanitarian assistance to affected populations.

Geography

Location: Northern Africa, bordering the Red Sea, between Egypt and Eritrea

Geographic Coordinates: 15 00 N, 30 00 E

Area: 2,505,810 km² (2.376 million km² land and 129,810 km² water)

arable land: 6.78%
permanent crops: 0.17%
other: 93.05% (2005) 

Land Boundaries: 7,687 km. Border countries: Central African Republic 1,165 km, Chad 1,360 km, Democratic Republic of the Congo 628 km, Egypt 1,273 km, Eritrea 605 km, Ethiopia 1,606 km, Kenya 232 km, Libya 383 km, Uganda 435 km

Coastline: 853 km

Maritime Claims:

territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 18 nm
continental shelf: 200 m depth or to the depth of exploitation

Natural Hazards: dust storms and periodic persistent droughts

Terrain: Generally flat, featureless plain; mountains in far south, northeast and west; desert dominates the north. Its lowest point is the  Red Sea (0 metres) and its highest point is Kinyeti (3,187 metres)

Climate: Tropical in south; arid desert in north; rainy season varies by region (April to November)

Government

Government Type: Government of National Unity (GNU) - the National Congress Party (NCP) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) formed a power-sharing government under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA); the NCP, which came to power by military coup in 1989, is the majority partner; the agreement stipulates national elections in 2009

Capital: Khartoum

Independence Date: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)

Legal System: based on English common law and Islamic law; as of 20 January 1991, the now defunct Revolutionary Command Council imposed Islamic law in the northern states; Islamic law applies to all residents of the northern states regardless of their religion; however, the CPA establishes some protections for non-Muslims in Khartoum; some separate religious courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; the southern legal system is still developing under the CPA following the civil war; Islamic law will not apply to the southern states

Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal

International Environmental Agreements

Sudan is party to international agreements on: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, and Wetlands.

People and Society

Population: 40,218,455 (July 2008 est.)

Age Structure:

0-14 years: 41.1% (male 8,451,576/female 8,093,609)
15-64 years: 56.4% (male 11,407,233/female 11,275,685)
65 years and over: 2.5% (male 518,822/female 471,530) (2008 est.)

Population Growth Rate: 2.134% (2008 est.)

Birth Rate: 34.31 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Death Rate: 13.64 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Net Migration Rate: 0.67 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2008 est.)

Life Expectancy at Birth: 50.28 years (2008 est.)

Total Fertility Rate: 4.58 children born/woman (2008 est.)

Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English; note: program of "Arabization" in process

Literacy (2003 est.): 61.1% (male: 71.8% - female: 50.5%)

Water

Total Renewable Water Resources: 154 cu km (1997)

Freshwater Withdrawal:  Total: 37.32 cu km/yr (3% domestic, 1% industrial, 97% agricultural). Per capita: 1,030 cu m/yr (2000)

Agriculture

Agricultural Products: cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava (tapioca), mangos, papaya, bananas, sweet potatoes, sesame; sheep, livestock

Irrigated Land: 18,630 sq km (2003)

Resources

Natural Resources: petroleum; small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold, hydropower.

Energy

Health

Major Infectious Diseases:  Degree of risk: very high

food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne diseases: malaria, dengue fever, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
water contact disease: schistosomiasis
respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis (2008)

Conflict

International Disputes: the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia fighting since the mid-20th century have penetrated all of the neighboring states; as of 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda provided shelter for over half a million Sudanese refugees, which includes 240,000 Darfur residents driven from their homes by Janjawid armed militia and the Sudanese military forces; Sudan, in turn, hosted about 116,000 Eritreans, 20,000 Chadians, and smaller numbers of Ethiopians, Ugandans, Central Africans, and Congolese as refugees; in February 2006, Sudan and DROC signed an agreement to repatriate 13,300 Sudanese and 6,800 Congolese; Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups; efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia proceed slowly due to civil and ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan; the boundary that separates Kenya and Sudan's sovereignty is unclear in the "Ilemi Triangle," which Kenya has administered since colonial times; while Sudan claims to administer the Hala'ib Triangle north of the 1899 Treaty boundary along the 22nd Parallel; both states withdrew their military presence in the 1990s, and Egypt has invested in and effectively administers the area; periodic violent skirmishes with Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic

Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons: Refugees (country of origin): 157,220 (Eritrea); 25,023 (Chad); 11,009 (Ethiopia); 7,895 (Uganda); 5,023 (Central African Republic).  IDPs: 5.3 - 6.2 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region) (2007)

Economy

Sudan's economy is booming on the back of increases in oil production, high oil prices, and large inflows of foreign direct investment. GDP growth registered more than 10% per year in 2006 and 2007. From 1997 to date, Sudan has been working with the IMF to implement macroeconomic reforms, including a managed float of the exchange rate. Sudan began exporting crude oil in the last quarter of 1999. Agricultural production remains important, because it employs 80% of the work force and contributes a third of GDP. The Darfur conflict, the aftermath of two decades of civil war in the south, the lack of basic infrastructure in large areas, and a reliance by much of the population on subsistence agriculture ensure much of the population will remain at or below the poverty line for years despite rapid rises in average per capita income. In January 2007, the government introduced a new currency, the Sudanese Pound, at an initial exchange rate of $1.00 equals 2 Sudanese Pounds.

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity): $80.71 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (Official Exchange Rate): $49.71 billion (2007 est.)

GDP- real growth rate: 10.5% (2007 est.)

GDP- per capita (PPP): $2,200 (2007 est.)

GDP- composition by sector:

agriculture: 31.8%
industry: 34.2%
services: 33.9% (2007 est.)

Population Below Poverty Line: 40% (2004 est.)

Industries: oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar, soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, armaments, automobile/light truck assembly

Exports: oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar

Export Partners: China 67.8%, Japan 19%, South Korea 2% (2006)

Imports: foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat

Import Partners: China 27.9%, Saudi Arabia 7.5%, India 6.3%, Egypt 5.6%, UAE 5.5%, Japan 4.2% (2006)

Economic Aid Recipient: $1.829 billion (2005)

Currency: Sudanese pounds (SDG)

Ports and Terminals: Port Sudan

Further Reading

1. CIA World Factbook