Sudan

Abdel Salam Sidahmed, Alsir Sidahmed

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2004
• eBook ISBN: 9781134479467
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Stretching between the savannah and the equator, Sudan is a microcosm of Africa, with one leg in the Arab world and the other in Africa. Sudan's development, however, has failed to address the differences within the country between its diverse ethnic communities. This has resulted in political instability and a lack of national consensus, ultimately leading to long-term civil war. This useful book provides a comprehensive introduction to contemporary Sudan, outlining the evolution of the state with emphasis on its post-independence experience. It includes chapters on the history, politics, society, international relations and economy of the country.

1 State formation

As a geopolitical entity, the Sudan with its present borders is a relatively recent nation. Its component parts, however, experienced various degrees of state building and centralized power. The northern region, and particularly Nubia, is comparatively well documented, as the area has long been the focus of archaeological excavations and research. Little, however, is known about the early history of southern and western Sudan. As far as our knowledge goes the northern and central parts of Sudan experienced a fairly continuous history of political formation with a measure of centralized authority from antiquity down to modern times.

Historians usually divide the historical development of the Sudan into three main stages: ancient, mediaeval and modern. The ancient period extends from antiquity to about the fourth and fifth centuries AD, the mediaeval from the sixth to eighteenth centuries AD, and the modern history of Sudan from the nineteenth century onwards. For the purposes of the scope of this book, which deals primarily with the contemporary era, there will be a closer account of the history of state formation in the Sudan from the nineteenth century onwards, with a passing reference to developments during the earlier century periods.

Pre-nineteenth-century Sudan

Human life in the Sudan perhaps goes back to the early Stone Age, and there are suggestions that settlements in northern Sudan may be traced to the eighth millennium BC. The Shaheinab culture in the neighbourhood of present-day Khartoum is, however, generally referred to as the earliest in Sudan. This emerged around the fourth millennium BC in association with the appearance of settled agricultural communities.¹

From about 3000 BC, the political history of northern Sudan (then known as Kush, or Cush) became intertwined with Egypt, which started to exert considerable cultural and political influence on the region. The Egyptian Pharaohs directed their attention to Kush, at times ruling it as a province of Egypt, from the time of the Old Kingdom (ca 2700–2180 BC) until the fall of the New Kingdom in the eleventh century BC. Egyptian hegemony over Sudan, however, varied in military strength, and at times of weakness or foreign invasion of Egypt, the Sudan developed its own political structures, independent from Egyptian influences and hegemony. Such was the case of the first indigenous political entity to appear in lower Nubia, the kingdom of Kush, which emerged at Kerma near present-day Dongola after the fall of the old Egyptian Kingdom. Likewise, the Kushite kingdom of Napata (near the present-day Karima) emerged during the period following the collapse of the New Egyptian Kingdom and the end of Egyptian control over Kush. The founder of the dynasty of Naptan kings is given as Kashta (d. ca 751 BC).²

The monarchs of Napata gradually extended their control into Egypt and ruled both Kush and Egypt as the twenty-fifth dynasty for about a century. Kashta extended the rule of Napata to Upper Egypt, whereas Kashta’s successor, Piankhy (751–710 BC) conquered the whole of Egypt down to the Delta and assumed the title of Pharaoh, thus launching the twenty-fifth dynasty. Piankhy’s brother and successor Shabako consolidated Napatan rule in Egypt and transferred the capital of the kingdom to Thebes in Upper Egypt. As a result, most of the Nile Valley was united under the rule of the Kushite dynasty as their dominions extended from the Mediterranean in the north to at least the area of present-day Khartoum in the south.³

In the opinion of many historians of antiquity, the Kushite rule succeeded in arresting the progress of decay which had been a feature of Egyptian civilization for nearly three centuries. The reign of Taharqa (690–664) ‘showed every promise of a cultural renaissance’.⁴ Yet, a series of attacks by the Assyrians on Egypt (671–662/1), forced the Kushite kings – Taharqa and his successor Tanwetamni – to withdraw to their ancestral home in Napata. The kingdom of Napata, however, continued as the dominant political entity in Kush and extended its territory south and east.⁵

Following an Egyptian raid in 590 BC, the ruling Kushite monarchs (probably during the reign of Aspelta [593–568 BC]) withdrew their seat of government to the city of Meroe near the sixth cataract, thereby initiating the Kingdom of Meroe. Napata, however, remained the religious capital of the Kingdom for at least the next century. During the height of its power the Meroitic Kingdom – which lasted until the fourth century AD – extended over a region from the third cataract to the Gezira in the south, and even over the area of the sudd in Upper Nile according to some historians.⁶ Meroe was famous for its iron ore industry, maintained trade contacts with India, Arabia and the Mediterranean, and incorporated some Hellenistic and Hindu influences in its daily life and culture.⁷ Despite these influences, the Meroitic era represented an indigenous Sudanese civilization and laid the foundation of the Sudanese nation-state.

In this sense Meroe represented a transition from the previous Kushite phases of Kerma and Napata, which were strongly influenced by Egyptian culture and tradition. Such cultural and political affinity between Egypt and Nubia during these periods was not surprising in view of the lengthy Egyptian occupation of lower Nubia, which lasted for over a millennium. It has also been suggested that in those days the ethnic identity of the two countries was more or less the same, particularly when Upper Egypt was the centre of its political and religious institutions. The Kushite occupation and rule of Egypt furthermore enhanced this political and cultural unity between Kush and Egypt.⁸

With the rise of Meroe the two countries started to drift apart in both geopolitical and cultural terms. As the seat of government moved south in Sudan, it shifted north in Egypt. And as Egypt came under direct Persian, Ptolemaic, Greek and Roman rule and influences, Meroe developed its own political, religious and cultural institutions, including a unique Meroitic script. Hence, although Meroe was not immune from external influences as noted, being essentially an indigenous civilization, it was in a position to receive and assimilate these influences within its own cultural blend.⁹

In AD 350 an invading army from the Kingdom of Axum in present-day Ethiopia captured and destroyed Meroe city, ending the kingdom’s existence. The event was preceded shortly by the arrival of a new ethnic group called Noba who came from the region of Kordofan in central/western Sudan and settled in the island of Meroe around the beginning of the fourth century AD. It was argued that the Noba’s expansion had brought them into conflict with the Beja – who dominated the area between the Nile and the Red Sea, and were in effect subjects of the kingdom of Axum – thus incurring the wrath of the latter on Meroe.¹⁰

By the sixth century AD, three states emerged as the political and cultural heirs of Meroe: Nobatia in the north with its capital at Faras, al-Muqqarah (or Makuria) with its capital at Dongola in the centre, and ’Alawa (or Alodia) with its capital at Soba southeast of Khartoum in the south. The rise of these three kingdoms coincided with the advent of Christianity in the Nile Valley and the conversion of Nubian monarchs to the Christian faith. The Nubian church, however, acknowledged the spiritual authority of the Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria. Christianity maintained a strong connection with the political institution as the church sanctioned legitimacy of the Nubian kings, whereas the latter ensured the protection of the church’s interest. Externally, the adoption of Christianity renewed Nubia’s cultural and ideological ties with Egypt and reopened its channels of communication with the Mediterranean world.¹¹

The invasion and conquest of Egypt by Arab Muslim armies in 640 posed a threat to Christian Nubia and is widely believed to have been the reason behind the unification of Nobatia and Makuria sometimes before AD 700. Indeed, the Arabs invaded Nubia in 642, and again in 651/652 when they laid siege to the city of Dongola, capital of al-Muqqarah but the Nubians put up a strong resistance. Consequently, the two parties concluded a treaty known as the treaty of al-baqt (Pact). The terms of al-baqt (which were regularly renewed in subsequent occasions of conflict) recognized free travel and trade to proceed unhindered across the frontier from both sides; that neither party would come to the aid of the other in case of an attack from a third party; and that both parties were to exchange tribute as a symbol of goodwill: the Nubians in slaves, and the Arabs in grain and other provisions.¹²

Some contemporary Sudanese writings regard the Pact as a humiliating treaty for Nubia in that it compelled them to send slaves from their people to the Muslims, and so on. In reality, however, the Pact was not a treaty between victors and vanquished, but rather a truce between two parties to affect a cessation of hostilities and an agreement for the exchange of benefits. Put in its historical context, slavery was widespread in those days, be it in the Christian Nubia or the Muslim world. It is thus no wonder that slaves – who were most probably procured from raiding enemies – were exchanged as commodities for grain and wine. Yet, the Pact is significant in another aspect, namely as a symbol of religious co-existence or tolerance. Although not written explicitly in any of the texts, it has been confirmed by various traditions that Muslims were paying Nubians wine as part of their annual tribute of provisions. On the other hand, some versions of the Pact (most likely a later one) speak of the duty of the Christian Nubians to maintain the mosque built by Muslims in Dongola.¹³

In juristic and historical terms the Pact was subjected to various interpretations and changing conditions, not least because of shifting political circumstances in Egypt under Muslim rule. Nonetheless, the spirit of the ‘Nubian Pact’ represented a diplomatic framework for peaceful co-existence between Egypt and Nubia for more than 600 years. Within this modus vivendi, trade and economic contacts flourished between Nubia and Egypt and eventually facilitated Arab migration into Nubia.

In spite of the Muslims’ control of Egypt and the initial pressure they posed on Nubia, the Christian kingdoms lasted until the beginning of the fourteenth century in the north, and the middle of the fifteenth century in the south, and achieved the peak of their prosperity and military power in the ninth and tenth centuries AD. By the thirteenth century, however, a host of internal and external factors led to the disintegration of al-Muqqarah, and it eventually fell around the first quarter of the fourteenth century. The kingdom of ’Alawa, however, lasted a little over a century after al-Muqqarah but eventually fell, probably by the mid-fifteenth century AD.¹⁴

Little is known about the period that spanned the interval separating the fall of the two Christian kingdoms. The most significant characteristics of this period were perhaps the absence of a centralized political structure in place of al-Muqqarah, the extensive demographic movements, and the inward migration of Arab tribes in the Sudan and their gradual settlement in the Nile Valley, and on the western and eastern plains. The fall of Soba, capital of ’Alawa, to a confederation of tribes led by an Arab warrior known as ‘Abdullah Jamma’ represented the culmination of these demographic movements and the pressure of Arab tribes.¹⁵

The Funj and the Fur

The period between sixteenth and nineteenth centuries witnessed the rise of two Islamized kingdoms: the Funj Sultanate, which dominated much of the Sudanese Nile valley, and the Fur Sultanate which controlled western Sudan (present-day Darfur).

The Funj

In 1504 the descendants of Abdullah Jamma, (the Abdallab) – who prevailed over Soba – clashed with a new expanding force from the south, the Funj. The Funj, whose exact origins are still an issue of controversy among historians but who probably came from the White Nile, subdued the Abdallab, and established the Funj Sultanate of Sinnar. Also known as the Black Sultanate, the Funj kingdom was founded by ’Amara Dunqas (1504–33), the first known of its sultans. The Sultanate, which had its capital at Sinnar in southern Gezira, lasted from the early sixteenth century through the first quarter of the nineteenth century. At the height of its power and prosperity the Funj Sultanate extended from the third cataract in the north to Fazughli in the Upper Nile (or the area of the sudd) in the south, and from Kordofan in the West to the Red Sea hills in the east.

The Funj ruled directly over some parts of their kingdom such as the Gezira, southern Blue Nile, and established tributary relations with other territories that came under their jurisdiction by virtue of conquest or necessity (as was the case for the nomadic tribes, and the kingdom of Taqali in the Nuba Mountains). Thus the Abdallab, who were conquered by the Funj at the establishment of their empire, became tributary vassals of Sinnar with over-lordship on the entire northern region from the Nile confluence to the northern border of the Sultanate.

Although the Funj royalty embraced Islam in the early days of the Sultanate, their political system closely resembled the Meroitic and Nubian kingships and was in a way a continuity of their traditions. The wealth of the Funj Empire rested on tribute and long-distance trade, which was a monopoly of the sultan who maintained a well-trained army of slave soldiers and cavalry force. By the mid-eighteenth century the Funj central authority was in decline. The deposition of Sultan Badi IV (also known as Badi Abu Shulukh) initiated a period when real authority in Sinnar passed to the warrior clan of the vizier Abu Likaylik who became the kingmakers. Regions hitherto under Funj control became effectively independent or remained part of the sultanate with but a nominal allegiance to Sinnar. The last decades of the Funj era were characterized by dynastic and inter-dynastic disputes and wars. The end came when Sinnar was conquered by the invading Turko- Egyptian army in 1820–21. ¹⁶

The Fur

The Fur, who were probably related to some tribes of Western Bahr al-Ghazal further south, were the largest non-Arab tribe in Darfur. The early history of Darfur was rather obscure, but at least two states were known to have ruled the region between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries: the Daju and the Tunjur. After a period of disorder in the sixteenth century, the Kayra clan led by Sulayman Solonge (Solongdungo) prevailed until the end of the Fur Sultanate in 1916. Sulayman Solonge (1596–1637) was said to have driven out the Tunjur, united the Fur and non-Fur peoples of Jabal Marra, conquered the area around the mountain, and declared Islam to be the official religion of the kingdom. The Fur Sultanate expanded north and westwards during the reign of Sultan Ahmad Bakr (1715–28), and his son Tayrab (1762–85) who extended the Sultanate eastwards to the White Nile at the expense of the Funj Kingdom. Thus by the eighteenth century, the Kayra Sultanate, which perhaps grew out of tribal chiefdom in the first half of the seventeenth century had consolidated its rule over Darfur, established a permanent capital at al-Fashir, and fought the Funj for control of Kordofan. By the end of the eighteenth century the Fur Sultanate extended from the present Sudan–Chad border in the west to the White Nile in the east, covering approximately the combined area of the present-day provinces of Darfur and Kordofan.

By and large, the political system of the Fur closely resembled that of the Funj to the east and the tradition of the Sudanic kingdoms in West Africa. The reign of Ahmad Bakr witnessed large-scale Islamization of the kingdom, as did that of Abd al-Rahaman al-Rashid (1786–1800) who reorganized the Sultanate’s administration to conform more to Islamic practices and norms, and encouraged immigration of religious scholars and merchants from central and northern Sudan into Darfur.¹⁷ The Kayra Sultanate ruled Darfur from the seventeenth century to 1874 when it lost its independence to the Turko-Egyptian regime (the latter had previously taken control of Kordofan in 1821). Kayra’s rule was restored over Darfur in 1899 by Ali Dinar who maintained the kingdom’s independence until 1916 when Darfur was conquered by the British and annexed to the Condominium Sudan.

Arabization and Islamization

Under the Funj and Fur Sultanates, the northern and western parts of Sudan became Islamized and largely Arabized. Arabization and Islamization of these parts came through a lengthy pr...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chronology
• 1. State Formation
• 2. Complex Politics of a Post-Colonial State
• 3. Foreign Relations: Complex Geopolitics and Domestic Instability
• 4. The Economy
• 5. State and Society
• 6: Conclusion
• Postscript
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography and Further Reading