Sudan: A State in Multi-Dimensional Crisis

Almost all African countries face at least one of the ethnic, racial, and religious conflicts. However, very few African countries have separatist problems along with ethnic, racial, and religious conflicts. Sudan's historical experience also differs from other African countries. Although most African countries have been colonized by only one European power, Sudan has been under the influence of Arab and Islamic civilizations throughout history and have been joint administration of Britain and Egypt called “condominium”. For this reason, the problems Sudan faced in the post-colonial period are much more complex and multidimensional than other African countries. Sudan is the only African country to experience ethnic and religious problems as well as separatist problems, and in the post-colonial period. In addition, there are problems such as tribal strife, the presence of non-state armed groups, military coups, insufficient democracy, weakened constitutional institutions and weak economic development in Sudan. The aim of this study is to examine the causes of the conflicts Sudan faced after gaining independence. The central hypothesis of the study is that the chronic political instability and government policies in the country lie at the root of the political, social and economic problems, cross-border conflicts and separatism problems in Sudan. In the study, firstly, the historical experiences of Sudan in the pre-independence period were examined. Secondly, the political, social and economic problems that emerged in the post-colonial period in Sudan and South Sudan and Darfur problem as separatist movements and the relationship of Sudan with international terrorism were examined. Since the governments are responsible for the effective determination and implementation of the country policies through the constitutional institutions of the country, the problems experienced in Sudan are analyzed in chronological order of the government periods.

Keywords

International Relations, Political Science, Sudan, Africa, Conflict