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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 August 2021
Sudan is a typical case of many postcolonial nation-states in Africa characterized by multiethnic, multicultural and multi-religious societies. It is an example of a pluralistic society formed by people who have differences in their sense of belonging and national identity. As in other African countries, the Sudanese situation is caused to a large extent by inequalities in power sharing and access to wealth and unequal development opportunities. In Sudan, the outcome has been a constant crisis of governance, civil war, ethnic genocide, famine and other man-made disasters which have crippled the country since independence. Differing visions for the future of the country have been contested. At one extreme is the vision of separation (formation of two states), at the other, the preservation of the status quo by any means, including violent ones (the military solution), which in a way means the continuation of inequalities within a united country. Proposals such as decentralization of the power of the state through a federal system, autonomy for the South and other disenfranchised regions of the country, or the right of self-determination, have at times been propagated by one political group or another.
1. Mamdani, Mahmood, “African Democratic Theory and Democratic Struggles: Clash Between Ideas and Realities,” Dissent, vol. 39, 1992, p. 313 Google Scholar.
2. The declaration concluded a meeting in Adare Manor, Northern Ireland, attended by a group of prominent exiled Sudanese politicians, professionals and scholars, mainly from the Southern Sudan.
3. The Legitimate Command is the name used by the Commanders of the Sudanese Armed Forces who were fired by the current regime after the Coup in 1989. Four of the Generals fled the country and joined the NDA, and are now preparing to wage a military campaign against the fundamentalist regime in coordination with the SPLA/SPLM.
4. To cite one example among many, the hostile article by Jane Perlez in the New York Times, August 13, 1991.