Sudan+Country+Report

Hey guys, as i (Naguib) was Sudan for MUN i thought i would put all the info i had researched on Sudan here. Feel free to correct anything you think is wrong.

PS: this might include repetitive information people had already researched.

A. HISTORY

Independence day 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK) • Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK 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 2008, 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.

B. POLITICAL STUCTURE

I. Main Points of Constitution

• Constitution implemented on 30 June 1998, partially suspended 12 December 1999 by President BASHIR; under the CPA, Interim National Constitution ratified 5 July 2005; Constitution of Southern Sudan signed December2005 • 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

II. Government Structure

a. Executive Branch

chief of state: President Umar Hassan Ahmad al-BASHIR (since 16 October 1993); First Vice President Salva KIIR (since 4 August 2005), Vice President Ali Osman TAHA (since 20 September 2005); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Umar Hassan Ahmad al-BASHIR (since 16 October 1993); First Vice President Salva KIIR (since 4 August 2005), Vice President Ali Osman TAHA (since 20 September 2005) cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president; note - the National Congress Party or NCP (formerly the National Islamic Front or NIF) dominates al-BASHIR's cabinet elections: election last held 13-23 December 2000; next to be held no later than July 2009 under terms of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement election results: Umar Hassan Ahmad al-BASHIR reelected president; percent of vote - Umar Hassan Ahmad al-BASHIR 86.5%, Ja'afar Muhammed NUMAYRI 9.6%, three other candidates received a combined vote of 3.9%; election widely viewed as rigged; all popular opposition parties boycotted elections because of a lack of guarantees for a free and fair election note: al-BASHIR assumed power as chairman of Sudan's Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation (RCC) in June 1989 and served concurrently as chief of state, chairman of the RCC, prime minister, and minister of defense until mid-October 1993 when he was appointed president by the RCC; he was elected president by popular vote for the first time in March 1996

b. Legislative Branch

bicameral National Legislature consists of a Council of States (50 seats; members indirectly elected by state legislatures to serve six-year terms) and a National Assembly (450 seats; members presently appointed, but in the future 75% of members to be directly elected and 25% elected in special or indirect elections; to serve six-year terms) elections: last held 13-22 December 2000 (next to be held 2009) election results: NCP 355, others 5; note - replaced by appointments under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement

c. Judicial Branch

Constitutional Court of nine justices; National Supreme Court; National Courts of Appeal; other national courts; National Judicial Service Commission will undertake overall management of the National Judiciary

d. Political Parties and Leaders National Congress Party or NCP [Umar Hassan al-BASHIR]; Sudan People's Liberation Movement or SPLM [Salva Mayardit KIIR]; and elements of the National Democratic Alliance or NDA including factions of the Democratic Union Party [Muhammad Uthman al-MIRGHANI] and Umma Party [SADIQ Siddiq al-Mahdi]; note - all political parties listed above in the Government of National Unity

e. Political Pressure Groups and Leaders Umma Party [Sadiq al-MAHDI]; Popular Congress Party or PCP [Hassan al-TURABI]

C. ECONOMY

I. Basic Commodities Produced

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

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

Oil Production 397,000 bbl/day (2006 est.)

Imports : $7.722 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) foodstuffs, manufactured goods, refinery and transport equipment, medicines and chemicals, textiles, wheat

Exports : $8.878 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.) oil and petroleum products; cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar

II. Trade Agreements None found

III. Dependency and Debt

Economic Aid recipient $1.829 billion (2005)

Reserve of Foreign Exchange and Gold $1.378 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt External $29.51 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

IV. Membership of Economic and Trade Organizations

ACP COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa IMF International Monetary Fund WTO (observer) UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organization

V. Trading Partners, Allies and Enemies

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

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

D. VIEWS ON WORLD PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS

I. Role and Influence on the World • Under constant fire over issue in Darfur • Unbalanced surrounding nations with an influx of refugees [especially Chad] • Accused of assisting African rebels. • Recently, Sudan’s president has been accused of genocides in Darfur and is awaiting a hearing in Hague.

II. Membership of Blocs and Geo Political Groupings

AL: Arab League AU: African Union UNESCO: United Nations WFO: World Food Organization WHO: World Health Organization UNHCR: United Nations High Commission of Refugees

III. Allies and Enemies

Most prominent Allies: China, Russia, and Egypt Most prominent Enemy: Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia

E. GEOPOLITICAL REGION and SURROUNDING CONFLICTS

a. 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

b. 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)

c. Trafficking in persons

current situation: Sudan is a source country for men, women, and children trafficked internally for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; Sudan is also a transit and destination country for Ethiopian women trafficked abroad for domestic servitude; Sudanese women and girls are trafficked within the country, as well as possibly to Middle Eastern countries for domestic servitude; the terrorist rebel organization, Lord's Resistance Army, continues to harbor small numbers of Sudanese and Ugandan children in the southern part of the country for use as cooks, porters, and combatants; some of these children are also trafficked across borders into Uganda or the Democratic Republic of the Congo; militia groups in Darfur, some of which are linked to the government, abduct women for short periods of forced labor and to perpetrate sexual violence; during the two decades-long north-south civil war, thousands of Dinka women and children were abducted and subsequently enslaved by members of the Missiriya and Rezeigat tribes; while there have been no known new abductions of Dinka by members of Baggara tribes in the last few years, inter-tribal abductions continue in southern Sudan tier rating: Tier 3 - Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; combating human trafficking through law enforcement or prevention measures was not a priority for the government in 2007 (2008)