Languages: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects
of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of "Arabization" in process
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 46.1%
male: 57.7%
female: 34.6% (1995 est.)
Sudan Government
Country name: conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
conventional short form: Sudan
local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
local short form: As-Sudan
former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Government type: transitional - ruling military junta took power in
1989; government is dominated by members of Sudan's National Islamic
Front (NIF), a fundamentalist political organization, which uses the
National Congress Party (NCP) as its legal front
Capital: Khartoum
Administrative divisions: 26 states (wilayat, singular - wilayah);
A'ali an Nil, Al Bahr al Ahmar, Al Buhayrat, Al Jazirah, Al Khartum,
Al Qadarif, Al Wahdah, An Nil al Abyad, An Nil al Azraq, Ash
Shamaliyah, Bahr al Jabal, Gharb al Istiwa'iyah, Gharb Bahr al
Ghazal, Gharb Darfur, Gharb Kurdufan, Janub Darfur, Janub Kurdufan,
Junqali, Kassala, Nahr an Nil, Shamal Bahr al Ghazal, Shamal Darfur,
Shamal Kurdufan, Sharq al Istiwa'iyah, Sinnar, Warab
Independence: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)
National holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1956)
Constitution: 12 April 1973, suspended following coup of 6 April
1985; interim constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended following
coup of 30 June 1989; new constitution implemented on 30 June 1998
partially suspended 12 December 1999 by President BASHIR
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; some
separate religious courts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with
reservations
Suffrage: 17 years of age; universal, but noncompulsory
Executive branch: chief of state: President Lt. Gen. Umar Hasan
Ahmad al-BASHIR (since 16 October 1993); First Vice President Ali
Uthman Muhammad TAHA (since 17 February 1998), Second Vice President
Moses MACHAR (since 12 February 2001); note - the president is both
the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Lt. Gen. Umar Hasan Ahmad al-BASHIR
(since 16 October 1993); First Vice President Ali
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