"One reason why the country has been at its own throat for thirty-six years: somebody drew the map too big" Melissa L. Rossi, What Every American Should Know About the Rest of the World.
Once ruled by British-Egyptian governance, until1956, Sudan is now opressed by an Islamic fundamentalist, military dictatorship. It is a notorious place for sex slavery, over 200,000 captured women and children, child soldiers, over 1 million, and nearly 5 million refugee/ street children, surely their mothers victims of AIDS or domestic violence, and ofcourse, Islamic fundamentalists. The vilolence of this land goes back over 50 years, when Arabic nomads trampled through and began murdering the dark skinned, non-Arabs.
Currently, the majority of people of Sudan, about 52%, are darker skinned Africans who are called "black Africans" and live in the southern areas of Sudan, and about 39% are lighter skinned Arabic peoples who live in the northern regions.The religion of the majority, of the black Africans, are indigenous beliefs, and a small percentage, about 5%, are Christian. However, even though there are less Arabic people in the entire Sudan, there is an overwhelming amount of Sunni Muslims, about 70%.
In 2003, the government funded the Janawid, "gunmen on horseback," to commit ethnic cleasnsing on all black, non-Arab Sudanese, to "leave no black African alive", as the dictator, Bashir, wants it. It is working; over 1 million have been murdered in their homeland, and who knows how many women raped, in order to create lighter skinned babies.
Tomorrow, Sunday, January 9th, 2011, the Sudan may become 2 sperate countries. The people in the south will vote weather or not to secede from the rest of Sudan, making it the newest country in the world. My prayer is that it begins to quell the violence and then people can begin to, if it is ever possible, recover and live peaceably.
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