Sudan Nation at War With Term Paper

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Nimeiri also made Islamic law part of the penal code, which included public beatings for consuming alcohol and cutting off hands of people convicted of stealing. All Sudanese nationals, even non-Muslims were subject to this law. Nimeiri was eventually overthrown in a coup, but the Southern-Northern tensions remained, as the government continued to be dominated by Islamic supporters.

Full-fledged civil conflict erupted again, and did not end until July 2002, when the Northern and Islamic-dominated government and the rebel confederation of Southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army SPLM/a reached a historic agreement on the role of state and religion and the right of Southern Sudanese tribes to self-determination in a federal system ("Background Note: Sudan," 2007, Bureau of African Affairs).

Women and Development

Because of the violence and war in Sudanese society, coupled with highly traditional fundamentalist and indigenous beliefs about the role of women in society, humiliating women is often used as psychological tool of warfare. The toll upon Sudanese women's bodies and collective psyche has been incalculable. The recent conflict in Darfur, a region located in Western Sudan between rebel groups unofficially supported by the Sudanese government and local tribal forces, has existed since 2003 and in 2004 the United States officially labeled the actions of the government-backed Janjawid rebel forces as genocide (Alvy, 2004). The government officially denies the existence of the use of sexual violence against women as a weapon of warfare. However, both the United Nations and Amnesty International have reported accounts of widespread rape and torture of women, including acts that take place front of the women's own families, while relatives are forced to watch the women's humiliation. Women have also been sold into sexual slavery during the conflict.

Theoretically, according to the Sudanese Constitution, since 1956 women have enjoyed equal rights under the law. But in practice, these words have rung hollow, given the predominance of Islamic law in governing behavior, legally and according to local custom.

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Women are not legally permitted to work in public, for example, which often makes them financially dependant upon men. The frequent wars and violence have widowed many women, rendering their families economically reliant upon their support, but women have been denied the educational or vocational tools to earn their own livelihoods. Female fertility rates are high because of poor access to birth control, but so is infant mortality and maternal death rates. 590 women died during every 100,000 live births last year. (Sudan Fact Sheet: Status of women," 2007, WomenforWomen International).Women have low literacy rates because they often are encouraged by family members to drop out of school as soon as possible, and the frequent civil conflicts have disrupted the education of all Sudanese.

A final indignity suffered by Sudanese women is that of female circumcision, or genital mutilation to prevent women from experiencing sexual pleasure. Estimates of the prevalence of this custom run as high as ninety percent of the entire female Sudanese population (Sudan Fact Sheet: Status of women," 2007, WomenforWomen International).

Conclusion

It is difficult to pinpoint the reasons for the failure of the Sudan to become a cohesive and peaceful nation. Colonialism attempted to sew together a loose confederation of warring tribes and regions with different religions and tribal ties. The Sudanese have acted barbarically towards one another, practicing genocide on members of their own nation who do not support the current government or observe Islamic law. Today, the nation exists as an example of how inhumanity can retard economic and political development, and the need for a functional, non-state affiliated agency to negotiate peace settlements when a state government is unwilling or unable to do so.

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