=============================

@Sudan

Introduction Sudan

Background:
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 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 2 million deaths and over 4 million people
displaced over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum
in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords; a final Naivasha
peace treaty of January 2005 granted the southern rebels autonomy
for six years, after which a referendum for independence is
scheduled to be held. A separate conflict that broke out in the
western region of Darfur in 2003 resulted in tens of thousands of
deaths and over 1 million displaced, but by early 2005, peackeeping
troops had stabilized the situation.

Geography Sudan

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

Geographic coordinates:
15 00 N, 30 00 E

Map references:
Africa

Area:
total: 2,505,810 sq km
land: 2.376 million sq km
water: 129,810 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly more than one-quarter the size of the US

Land boundaries:
total: 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

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

Terrain:
generally flat, featureless plain; mountains in far south,
northeast and west; desert dominates the north

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Red Sea 0 m
highest point: Kinyeti 3,187 m

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

Land use:
arable land: 6.83%
permanent crops: 0.18%
other: 92.99% (2001)

Irrigated land:
19,500 sq km (1998 est.)

Natur