| 601 - 700 |
The coming of Islam into the pre-existing Sudan |
| 1820 - 1881 |
Turco-Egyptian rule |
| 1896 - 1898 |
Anglo-Egyptian Condominium |
| 1899 - 1955 |
British rule institutionalizing the North-South schism. |
| 1955 |
Mutinies in Equatoria signaling the first civil war |
| Jan 1, 1956 |
Independence of Sudan |
| 1958 - 1964 |
Military government led by Ibrahim Abboud |
| 1964 - 1969 |
Civilian government |
| 1969 - 1985 |
Military government led by Jaafar al-Numeiri |
| 1972 |
The end of civil war (1955-72) by the Addis Ababa Agreement |
| 1983 |
The resumption of civil war |
| 1985 |
Transitional Military Council (TMC) |
| Feb 11, 1985 |
SPLA commander in the Nuba Mountains, Yousif Kuwa, appealed to the people of the Nuba Mountains to join the SPLA in its fight for a unified Sudan. He also described the discrimination and oppression of the people in the region by the government. (British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)) |
| 1986 - 1989 |
Civilian government under Sadiq al-Mahdi |
| Feb 1986 |
There were reports of fighting between the Beni Amir and Nuba ethnic groups in Port Sudan. The fighting followed a political rally organized by the Sudanese National Party of Fr. Philip Abbas Ghaboush. Ghaboush is a Nuba leader. Sixteen people were killed and eleven wounded. (Xinhua, 2/4/1986) |
| Sep 1987 |
The SPLA was reportedly gaining ground in the Nuba Mountains, moving further north than during previous battles. (Christian Science Monitor (CSM),9/22/1987) |
| 1989 |
Military government led by Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir |
| Oct 1989 |
The Sudanese government reported that 54 people had been killed in communal conflict between Nuba and Arabs. Independent reports claimed some 300 Nuba had been killed in the clashes. (Inter Press Service (IPS), 1/3/1990). A new opposition alliance, comprised of northern opposition groups, was formed. In February 1990, the SPLA agreed in principle to join the alliance provided it maintained its integrity within the organization. |
| Mar 1990 |
By late March, fighting between the government and the SPLA had intensified around the government-held garrisons in south-western Sudan. With both the government and the SPLA using starvation as a weapon, more than 500,000 people were reported to have starved to death. |
| Apr 1990 |
A Cabinet reshuffle strengthened Islamic fundamentalist influence in the government. |
| Nov 1990 |
Sudan's pro-Iraq stance during the Gulf crisis led to its internationally isolation. The ruling Revolutionary Command Council (RCC, chaired by Bashir), strongly influenced by the Islamic fundamentalist National Islamic Front (NIF), was reported to have detained, tortured, and executed hundreds of political opponents. |
| Jan 1991 |
Eight million Sudanese faced starvation aw a result of a famine which was more devastating than that of 1984-85. |
| Feb 1991 |
The RCC passed a decree that divided Sudan into nine states. They in turn were subdivided into 66 provinces and 281 local government areas. This regional reorganization was proclaimed by the government as a power devolution towards resolving the North-South conflict. The SPLA rejected it as "unrealistic." |
| Mar 1991 |
Sudan’s army newspaper reported that SPLA rebels killed eight Nuba civilians by burning them to death in Kordofan as they protested against rebel atrocities. The report was not independently confirmed. (Xinhua, 3/6/1991) |
| Jun 1991 |
More than 100,000 Sudanese refugees, including Nuba, entered Ethiopia in recent years. Some have begun returning to Sudan following attacks on their camps by Ethiopian rebels in May. The Sudanese government and Ethiopian rebels claim the camps are used as SPLA training grounds. The Sudanese government also bombed the refugees on their return home. (CSM, 6/21/1991) |
| Aug 1991 |
The SPLA was split into two groups, the Torit (with Dinka tribal dominance, led by Col. John Garang de Mabior) and the Nasir/United faction (with Nuer dominance, led by Riek Machar), owing to incompatible views on Sudan's future. While John Garang's faction has been committed to building a united, secular Sudan, Machar's faction advocates an independent black state. |
| Oct 1991 |
The planned peace talks between the government and the SPLA had been postponed owing to a split in the SPLA leadership. |
| Nov 1991 |
Clashes began between rival factions of the SPLA. |
| Dec 1991 |
The divided SPLA groups ratified a 12-point peace plan. But by late December, over 5,000 civilians in south-east Sudan were reported to have been killed in fighting between the two factions. In 1991 alone, at least 1 million people had moved across borders and over 7 million been internally displaced. An Africa Watch report accused both the government and the SPLA of committing atrocities against the Nuba. An August split within the SPLA has begun to worry the Nuba who have in recent years come to support the SPLA over the government. Nuba are concerned that unless all of Sudan is liberated, the Nuba will be left at the mercy of the northern government. Arrests and disappearances of the Nuba by government forces are common, and over the past few years, the government has waged a systematic campaign to remove Nuba from judicial, administrative and security posts. (IPS, 12/11/1991) |
| Jan 1992 |
Three people were killed in January and sixteen in December when the government carried out forced evictions in Khartoum. The government has been targeting Nuba and western Sudanese with evictions. (IPS, 1/18/1992) The Governor of South Kordofan, Lt. General al-Hussein, formally declared a holy war in the Nuba Mountains. In June, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum reported that al-Hussein planned to relocate some 25,000 Nubans out of the mountain region. Between June and August, at least 30,000 were sent to the villages in Northern Kordofan. (Burr, 12/1998) |
| 1992 |
Between November 1991 and February 1992, the Nasir faction killed 5,000 civilians, displaced 200,000 civilians, stole their cattle, and burned their villages in the Bor-Kongor area. |
| Feb 1 - Mar 31, 1992 |
The government launched its largest offensive against the SPLA in order to seize strategic garrison towns and cut off sources of relief supplies to civilians in SPLA-held areas. The government attacked on four fronts in the South where the SPLA controlled some 90 percent of the territory until early 1992. After seizing the towns of Rumbek and Yirol, government forces practiced scorched-earth policies and burnt villages, leaving over 100,000 people displaced. |
| Sep 1992 |
The government has forcibly cleared tens of thousands of indigenous people from the Nuba Mountains and resettled them in so-called "peace villages" under the control of the army and government-created militia, Popular Defence Force (PDF). The government said the moves are to help the Nuba by removing them from war zones, but rights groups suggest the process is ethnic cleansing and accuse the government of economic motives in the forced resettlement. The Nuba Mountains are the northern-most battle zone in the SPLA-government war. (CSM, 9/16/1992) |
| Nov 1992 |
At least 4.5 million people (about 75 percent of the South's population) had fled from their homes in search of food and security in other parts of Sudan or Ethiopia and Uganda |
| Feb 1993 |
Amnesty International, the British Anti-Slavery Society, the International Labor Organization (ILO), Africa Watch, and other human rights monitoring organizations reported the Sudanese government's grave human rights violations and Arab enslavement of indigenous people in the Nuba Mountains. An estimated 75,000 women and children are currently enslaved. Hundreds of civilians have been executed, and massacres, rapes, and disappearances are common. (IPS, 2/22/1993). Pope John Paul II visited Khartoum and called for religious tolerance. |
| Mar 1993 |
Joseph Oduho, the SPLA's elder statesman, who was the figure most likely to reconcile the opposing factions, died. The SPLA announced a unilateral cease-fire to pave the way for fresh peace talks. Garang repeated his call for the establishment of “safe havens” for some 800,000 southerners facing starvation and 1 million Nuba subjected to a campaign of ethnic cleansing. (The Guardian, 3/19/1993) |
| Apr 1 - May 31, 1993 |
The government and the Torit faction began peace talks in Abuja on April 8, but adjourned on May 18 without a final statement materializing because of disagreement about the distribution of powers to the states. Film footage of ethnic cleansing against the Nuba has been smuggled out of Sudan. It showed evidence of razed villages and included interviews with villagers and local church officials. (Toronto Star, 5/19/1993) |
| Sep 1993 |
The SPLA has been affected by major internal conflicts. Tribes of Equatoria and the Nuba Mountains are pressing the organization to become less tribal and less repressive towards SPLA members who express alternative opinions. (BBC, 9/8/1993) |
| Nov 1 - 28, 1993 |
On November 2, President Bashir affirmed his commitment to the implementation of Islamic law. In early November, the government bombed Thiet in western Equatoria. The cease-fire which was agreed between the SPLA factions in Washington, D.C., was broken owing to fighting between the factions in eastern Equatoria and other places. The meeting of reconciliation for two SPLA groups, scheduled for November 15 in Nairobi, was postponed. More than 500,000 Southerners have died in the past two years, largely as a result of SPLA in-fighting and related famine and disease. More than 1.5 million have been killed and 2 million displaced in the past ten years of civil war. (CSM, 11/30/1993) |
| Feb 1994 |
The government launched its largest offensive yet against the rebels to attempt to win the war outright or to force more SPLA concessions at the negotiating table. About 1000 people per day have been fleeing to northern Uganda since January in anticipation of the coming offensive. In the past two years, the government has retaken all principle towns in the South and restricted the rebels to guerrilla warfare. The renewed fighting was condemned by UN Secretary-General Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali. The SPLA made an appeal to the UN to appoint mediators to end the conflict and to send troops if necessary. The government has long been opposed to outside interference. Two UN agencies also appealed for assistance for four million who have been affected by the drought and war. SPLA leader Garang accused the government of Zaire of opening its borders to Sudanese army troops. Zaire denied the accusations. |
| May 1994 |
Garang declared a “new Sudan” which comprises Southern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and Ingessina. The government said the declaration proved that the rebels are not serious about peace. (IPS, 5/3/1994) |
| Jul 1994 |
The Sudanese government declared a unilateral cease-fire, but rebels said fighting continued in the South. Peace talks have been under way since March 1994. The majority of southern Sudanese have entered the "hunger gap"-the period between the exhaustion of food stores from the previous harvest and the availability of food from the present year's harvest. Fighting has complicated relief efforts to get food through to the South. |
| Aug 1, 1994 |
The Sudanese government announced that it would never accept terms set by the southern rebels for self-determination and separation of religion and the state. |
| Nov 1994 |
The government in Khartoum announced that compulsory military training for secondary school pupils would begin shortly. |
| Jan 1995 |
A delegation from Christian Solidarity International visited Sudan in January, but were not allowed to visit the Nuba Mountain region. They spoke to people from the region, however, and were told that there was a lack of medical supplies and staff and water supplies, and that government offenses led to the burning of at least 11 villages. The organization reported that there was mass displacement of the Nuba people through terror, war and the manipulation of aid; 1.5 million Sudanese had been killed and 5 million displaced since the start of the war in 1983; infrastructure was destroyed in war zones; humanitarian aid failed to reach hundreds of thousands in the Nuba Mountains and other SPLA-held zones. (Africa News Service (ANS), March 1995) |
| Feb 1995 |
The breakaway rebel group SSIM (Southern Sudan Independence Movement) announced a reconciliation with the SPLA from which it split in 1991. |
| Jul 1995 |
The African Rights Group reported that the government’s campaign in the Nuba Mountains amounted to genocide. The government was attempting to “remold the social and political identity” of the Nuba by removing them to government-administered peace camps. There were reports of massive human rights violations including rape and murder and reports of church and mosque burnings. (Arab Press Service, 7/22/1995) |
| Aug 1995 |
A cease-fire between the SPLA and government declared in March broke down. |
| Oct 1 - Nov 30, 1995 |
The SPLA went on the offensive killing, wounding or dislodging 3000 Sudanese government troops from the southern town of Parajok. The offensive followed a series of cease-fires negotiated with the assistance of Jimmy Carter since April 1995. The rebel offensive was fast gaining ground in the South during these months, overrunning 8 strategic government garrisons along the Sudan-Uganda border. Bashir accused Uganda of providing troops for the SPLA and of launching cross-border attacks in support of the SPLA. |
| Nov 1995 |
The UN issued a report on the human rights abuses in Sudan. The government was accused of murder, torture, turning a blind eye to the re-emergence of slavery in the country. Rebels were also admonished for abuses. The report estimated 1.2 million dead since the outbreak of civil war in 1983. In the Nuba Mountains, government attacks killed large numbers while others were summarily executed, tortured or disappeared. (ANS, 11/1995) The government and rebels held several rounds of peace talks in Nairobi under the auspices of the Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD). They had failed to make any progress by the beginning of 1996. |
| Feb 1996 |
U.N. rapporteur on human rights Gaspar Biro issued a report on conditions in Sudan. He stated “in the Nuba Mountains, a large number of civilians, including women and children, Muslims and Christians alike, have been killed in [aerial] attacks or summarily executed.” (Burr, December 1998) By 1996, there were only 250-300,000 Nuba left in SPLA-administered regions while at least 500,000 have been forcibly resettled by the government. At minimum, 100,000, and as many as 200,000, Nuba have disappeared from the mountain region since 1983. (Burr, December 1996) |
| Mar 30, 1996 |
John Garang announced the capture of two frontier town: Pochalla in Upper Nile Province and Khor Yabus in Blue Nile Province beginning a new SPLA offensive. By April, the SPLA controlled the whole length of the Ethiopia-Sudanese frontier, with the exception of a government garrison at Marwut, from Kenya to Kurmuk. |
| Apr 10, 1996 |
The government and two rebel factions that had broken from the SPLA in 1991 signed a peace agreement in Khartoum. Riak Machar signed for the Southern Sudan Independence Movement and Kerubine Kwanyin Bol signed for the SPLA-Bahr al-Ghazal faction. The agreement stated that after peace and stability and a reasonable level of development had been established in the south, a referendum should be held to enable people to determine their political aspirations. The main rebel SPLA faction led by Garang denounced the agreement as a sham and vowed to continue fighting. Foreign diplomats in the region also suggested that the agreement was worthless without the involvement of the SPLA which has been on the offensive in the South since October. |
| May 29, 1996 |
Lt. General Joseph Lagu, leader of the original southern rebel movement Anya Nya, and Samuel Aru Bol, leader of the banned Union of Sudan African Parties, both urged all southerners to back the April peace agreement. The southern rebel movements are split largely along ethnic lines with the main SPLA faction composed mainly of Dinka, SSIM of Nuers and SPLA-United of Shilluk. Kwanyin Bol, militia commander of SSIM, reportedly has pushed SPLA from his home region of Bahr el Ghazal and Riak Machar, leader of SSIM, controls the upper Nile and Kwanyin Bol Bahr el Ghazal region. Equatorians have been militant supporters of independence for the south and have suffered at the hands of the SPLA |
| Jul 1996 |
The USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development) Appropriation Bill for 1997 exempted SPLA-controlled areas of Sudan from a ban on U.S. development aid to Sudan enacted in 1989. The SPLA-controlled areas will receive direct aid in 1997. (ANS. 7/30/1996) |
| Aug 1996 |
The leader of the Nuba Mountain Central Committee, Mohamed Harun Kafi, and the political leader of the New Sudan Forces, Yunis Dumi Kali, both Nubans, defected from the SPLA and signed a charter of principles with representatives of the Sudanese government in Nairobi. They said they defected from the SPLA because the movement had lost its national outlook as it had degenerated into a tribal organization. Kafi and Kali did not say how much control they have over the Nuba fighters in the battle fields, and the man who led the Nuba to the bush, Yousif Kuwa, is still with John Garang’s SPLA.(Deutsche Press Agenteur (DPA), 8/11/1996) |
| Aug 11, 1996 |
The Sudanese government has given its approval to the United Nations to allow it to fly in relief supplied to thousands of people affected by flooding in southeastern Sudan. The umbrella organization Operation Lifeline Sudan has been requesting since June to be allowed to fly aid to some 15,000 people who were stranded by flooding. The area, Pochalla, has been under the control of the SPLA since March. The World Food Program resumed food deliveries to some 700,000 people facing starvation in the south in late July. It was the WFP’s first large-scale operation in 10 months. |
| Aug 13, 1996 |
The government thwarted a coup attempt and executed 11 officers. The government has been faced with recent demonstrations and protests in the major cities of the north despite the arrest of opposition political leaders. In the Nuba Mountains, the SPLA has managed to maintain its position despite repeated government offenses. (ANS, 10/7/1996) |
| Oct 25, 1996 |
The SPLA dismissed rumors that it was holding peace talks with the government. The SPLA said it was committed to IGADD (Inter-governmental Authority on Development) peace initiatives which have been deadlocked since the National Islamic Front walked away from talks in September 1994 after its proposals were rejected by the SPLA. |
| Oct 30, 1996 |
Politicians who had opposed President al-Bashir’s government since 1989 have decided to join his government. The Rev. Philip Abbas Gaboush of the Sudan National Party, Joshua Dei Wal of the Federal Party, and Ahmed Balal and Marghani Sulieman of the Democratic Union Party said they would support al-Bashir in his efforts to end the conflict in Sudan. |
| Dec 12, 1996 |
Former Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi reportedly planed to join the armed opposition to al-Bashir’s government. He had been living under house arrest since September 1995, but went to Eritrea to announce his intentions. Eritrea severed diplomatic ties with Sudan in 1994 accusing Sudan of supporting the Eritrean Islamic Jihad which aims to overthrow the Eritrean government. Sudan in turn accuses Eritrea of supporting the SPLA. |
| Dec 16, 1996 |
Former SPLA members accused the organization of discrimination. Some Nuba broke from the SPLA when Garang made an alliance with northern opposition groups who recognized the SPLA’s demand for self-determination for the south. These Nuba are concerned that the alliance between the SPLA and northern opposition groups in the National Democratic Alliance show that the SPLA is concerned only with the south and will leave them to their fate if the south becomes autonomous while other Nuba support the alliance. (IPS) |
| Jan 14, 1997 |
The SPLA said a joint rebel force had captured key Sudanese government army garrisons at al-Kalil, Diamonsour, and Shali al-Fil in the southern Blue Nile region. On 12 January 1997, SPLA forces captured Kurmuk and other army garrisons. It said the governor of Kurmuk was one of several prisoners taken by the SPLA. |
| Jan 17, 1997 |
The United Nations and Christian Solidarity International (CSI) said Sudanese forces were destroying villages in the southeast. CSI said Sudan had launched a scorched earth policy in the Blue Nile region which had left some 50,000 people on the verge of starvation. The area has long been closed to the U.N. and other international relief agencies. |
| Jan 23, 1997 |
An exile opposition group, the National Democratic Alliance, has called on Egypt to help overthrow the Sudanese government. Egypt has not said it will help the rebels despite its long dispute with Khartoum over the presence in Sudan of Egyptian Islamists fighting the Cairo government. |
| Feb 4, 1997 |
Fighting in eastern Zaire and northern Uganda has forced thousands of Sudanese refugees to flee camps in the two countries and head back to southern Sudan. There were reported to be about 200,000 refugees in Uganda and 80,000 in Zaire. |
| Mar 28, 1997 |
The SPLA said it seized three garrisons in the northeast and was threatening Port Sudan. The garrisons were named as Korora, Tiairba, and Shabri. Garang said the SPLA was mounting a major offensive in the northeast and that his forces were active on five fronts in northeast, south, east and central Sudan. |
| Apr 2, 1997 |
A government minister said aid workers would become military targets if they continued to work in rebel-controlled areas in the south. The government ordered the creation of a security committee to investigate the role of relief agencies in military operations. Agencies will have to submit reports on their work and comply with any guidelines issued by the committee. The Minister of Information and Culture also stated that government forces had launched an offensive in order to regain areas of eastern Sudan that were recently captured by rebels. |
| Apr 21, 1997 |
An agreement to end Sudan’s civil war was signed in Khartoum. Among those signing the agreement were Riak Machar of SSIM, Kerubino Kwanyin Bol of SPLA-Bahr el Ghazal, and Theophillo Ochan of EDF (Equatoria Defense Force). The agreement comes out of the Political Charter signed by several rebel groups and the government in April 1996. It provides for a four-year transitional government in Juba followed by a referendum on separation or unity for the south. Southerners will also no longer be subject to shari’a laws and they would exercise their legislative rights based on customary law. President al-Bashir said he would also declare an amnesty and allow for the repatriation of thousands of Sudanese refugees. The agreement was not signed by John Garang’s SPLA which has been making advances in the country since January. (BBC, 4/23/1997) |
| May 21, 1997 |
The SPLA reported major gains in the south. In the southwestern region, only the capital Wao remains under government control. The capture of Yei in March opened up SPLA supply routes and appears to have been the key to recent SPLA gains. The SPLA also said government troops were deserting to their side. |
| Jun 16, 1997 |
Parliamentarians from western Sudan are now demanding self-determination for their area following the agreement under which the south is to decide in 2001 whether it becomes a separate state. The politicians charged that resources of the west were allocated to the south in the April agreement. Areas, including the oil rich areas of southern Kordofan and Abyei, that, before 1956, used to be part of southern Sudan are to be reincorporated into the south. Western leaders also want the federal government to compensate them for the negative effects of 14 years of civil war. Riak Machar said the Westerners’ demands were unjustified and said that the five groups that signed the accord would see the fulfillment of their demands as a violation of the April accord. Demands for self-determination by people in the east have been rejected numerous times by the government which maintains the east has no reason to seek special treatment. The south is the breadbasket of the country and people in other areas fear if it gains independence, their regions will suffer. |
| Jul 10, 1997 |
Twenty thousand Dinka have been displaced in the wake of fighting. They have moved from Bahr el-Ghazal region to Kordofan. |
| Sep 26, 1997 |
John Garang, SPLA leader, has appealed for international food aid to southern Sudan. He also said his forces controlled all of southern Sudan. The World Food Program (WFP) delivered some food aid in early September, but is being hampered by the government’s refusal to give aircraft permission to fly into SPLA controlled towns. SPLA-United faction leader Lam Akol rallied to the government after 11 years in the bush. SPLA-United was one of the groups signing the April peace agreement with the government. |
| Oct 15, 1997 |
The WFP sent food aid to Juba where 370,000 people in both government and rebel held areas are in need of relief. The town has been cut off from supplies since the SPLA cut off all land routes to it. The government is said to be persecuting Christians and other southerners in the town. |
| Oct 26, 1997 |
The International Women’s Committee in Support of Nuba Women and Children claims genocidal human rights abuses by the government in the Nuba Mountains region. Using reports from Africa Rights and other NGOs and Church organizations, the group alleges that local militias use murder, rape, abduction, slavery, orchestrated famines, forced conversion to Islam, and forced displacement into “peace camps” as political weapons. Nuba leaders blamed both the government and SPLA for abuses against them. In 1983, the Nuba population was estimated at 3 million. Since then, half the population has fled and most young men are fighting with the SPLA. |
| Nov 27, 1997 |
At least 35 people have been killed in communal violence between the Dinka and Nuer in Gedaref province. Riak Machar’s United Democratic Salvation Front runs southern Sudan under the April peace agreement. There is some rivalry between the Dinka and Nuer within the UDSF. Dinka chiefs accuse Dr. David de Chard, the Nuer Youth Organization leader, of initiating the incident because Nuer assume all Dinka are SPLA supporters and because SPLA-government peace talks in October-November failed. Prof. de Chard denied involvement in the conflict. |
| Feb 18, 1998 |
Those rebel groups which signed a peace accord with the government in April 1997 were asked to lay down their arms. |
| Feb 26, 1998 |
After the government partially lifted a flight ban, food aid arrived in Bahr el-Ghazal where 100,000 people have settled after being displaced by recent fighting in the area. Earlier in the month, the United Nations appealed for $109 million in aid for 4 million civilians facing starvation and disease in southern Sudan. |
| Mar 13, 1998 |
Government aircraft flew four sorties over Yei in western Equatoria region dropping 13 bombs. Five fell on Yei’s hospital complex killing 11 and rendering the hospital useless. Yei was taken by SPLA rebels in March 1997. The SPLA downed 4 government planes during 1997. |
| Mar 30, 1998 |
Sudan’s parliament approved a draft constitution, its first since 1984. It asserts that Sudan is a unitary state in which Islam is the majority, but allows for other religions. It also states that shari’a, custom, and national consensus are the basis for legislation in the state. |
| Apr 2, 1998 |
About 300 student conscripts were killed by government security forces as they tried to escape from the military training camp at Helefun near Khartoum. At least 150 were shot and 55 drowned in their escape attempt. The government introduced conscription of school-age students more than 2 years ago. |
| May 2, 1998 |
The SPLA has said it repulsed a summer government offensive on three fronts. It also announced that on 29 April, the SPLA released 800 POWs. Over 300 decided to join various rebel groups fighting the government; others returned to their homes; others want political asylum in other countries. |
| May 4, 1998 |
The government has extended its policy of ethnic cleansing first tried in the Nuba Mountains to Darfur Province. People of the province have been put into camps with children reportedly separated from their parents and forced to convert to Islam and girls sexually abused. (ANS) |
| May 11, 1998 |
The National Democratic Alliance dismissed the proposed Constitutional Bill of Sudan on the grounds that it does not meet the expectations of all interested parties. |
| May 25, 1998 |
The Nuba people held a ceremony in the Nuba Mountains Kordofan region to mark the 15th anniversary of the SPLA rebellion. |
| Jun 1998 |
Famine in Sudan is more widespread than previously thought. According to Medecins sans Frontieres, hundreds of thousands of children in Bahr el-Ghazal region are severely malnourished and close to one million people are near starvation. It is currently targeting 2.2 million people for food assistance. The food shortage is caused by a combination of poor harvests due to lack of rain and heavy SPLA-government fighting in the region. Many in Bahr el-Ghazal are displaced from surrounding villages. In early May, government militias accompanied by nomadic horsemen invaded the region killing as many men as possible and abducting women and children. Villages have been razed and abandoned. Other areas of famine include western Nuer of the Upper Nile and eastern Equatoria. The following drought-affected regions are under SPLA control Rumbek Country, eastern Bahr el Ghazal; northern Bahr el Ghazal; Mundri, Western Equatoria. Those under government control include: Bentiu, Unity State; Malakal, Upper Nile State, and Juba Town, Bahr el Jebel State. In general, the government controls Bahr el Jebel State, Unity State and Upper Nile State while the SPLA controls Eastern Bahr el Ghazal and Western Equatoria. |
| Jul 1998 |
The government of Sudan recently lifted its ban on access to the Nuba Mountains to allow UN relief workers to assess the situation. Relief officials estimate that more than 700,000 people are at risk of starvation in Sudan. (ANS, 5/20/1998) The World Food Program reported in May that 350,000 people were at risk of starvation in Sudan, while today they report that 2.6 million are in need of emergency food aid. Relief agencies still lack access to rebel-held areas in the Nuba Mountains where 300,000 live under SPLA control. (IPS, 7/1/1998) |
| Sep 1998 |
The U.S. Committee on Refugees said more than 350,000 Sudanese are living as refugees in six nearby countries and that there are up to 4 million internally displaced in Sudan. Attacks on the Nuba region in February, May and June displaced 30-50,000 people. (ANS, 9/17/1998) |
| Oct 1998 |
The opposition National Democratic Alliance held a conference in Asmara, Eritrea, September 28-October 3. They discussed the military successes of NDA forces in the east, southeast, south and Nuba Mountains. (BBC, 10/7/1998) |
| Dec 1998 |
The U.S. Committee for Refugees released a report on the conflict in Sudan. It stated that at least 1.9 million people had died as a result of the war over the past 15 years, including 70,000 in the first half of 1998. The report described the policies of the government against the Nuba people as genocidal and stated that between 100-200,000 have died or been killed in the past five years because of government policies.. (IPS, 12/10/1998) |
| Feb 1999 |
One hundred Sudanese rebel commanders and politicians from seven armed groups and political parties held a conference in Kampala. (DPA, 2/10/1999) |
| 2004 |
The Nuba people have been killed and branded “infidels” for siding with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). The persecution of the Nuba people has included the burning of villages, the banning of humanitarian aid flights, and the deliberate slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians. (Egypt Today, 05/12/2004, “The Art of Flight”)
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| 2004 |
A new rebel group, the “Al-Shahamah [Nobility] Movement” launched attacks on government positions in the region, which includes the Nuba Mountain region. The rebel group seeks the support of Nuba residents to back their armed revolution against the government and to revise the agreement on administrative arrangements in the Nuba Mountains. (BBC Monitoring Middle East, 10/21/2004, “New Rebel Group “Al-Shahamah” Set Up in Sudan’s Western Kordofan Region”)
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| Jan 7 - 7, 2004 |
A second agreement on Security Arrangements and Wealth Sharing was signed by the negotiating parties at peace talks in Naivasha, Kenya. In the agreement the Nuba Mountains would remain part of the Northern State during the interim period, and would be granted limited self-rule but no right to self-determination. Southern Sudan will be granted significant economic independence, including the retention of half of its oil and non-oil revenue, during the six year interim period, at the end of which a referendum will be held to determine whether or not South Sudan remains part of Sudan. (Africa News, 01/08/04, “Sudan; Wealth-Sharing Agreement Gives Southern Sudan Economic Independence") |
| Jan 20 - Jul 19, 2004 |
Both the Central Government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement have extended a ceasefire agreement in the Nuba Mountain region for six months. The original six-month renewable ceasefire agreement was signed in January 2002 in Switzerland. (BBC Monitoring Middle East, 01/20/2004, “Excerpt From Report by Sudanese Newspaper Al-Anba”) |
| Jan 10 - 10, 2005 |
The Sudanese Government and Southern Rebels, as represented by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army, signed a 240-page peace agreement to end 21 years of civil war. The peace agreement stipulates a power-sharing agreement for the administration of the Nuba Mountain region. (Africa News, 01/10/2005, “Sudan: the Long and Winding Road to Accord”) |
| Mar 21 - Dec 31, 2005 |
In the Nuba Mountains, farmers killed one Arab herdsman in a reprisal attack for the death of two Nuba farmers at the hands of herdsmen. (BBC Monitoring Middle East, 03/27/2006, “Sudanese Daily Calls for End to Insecurity in Nuba Mountains region”)
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| Jul 30 - 30, 2005 |
Sudanese Vice President and ex-rebel leader Dr. John Garang died. (BBC Monitoring Middle East, 08/04/06, “US Envoy Eulogizes Late Sudanese Rebel Leader John Garang”) |
| Oct 13 - 13, 2006 |
United States President Bush signed into law the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act (DPAA). In addition to imposing sanctions on individuals responsible for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide, the DPAA serves to actively support peace measures in the Darfur region. President Bush also issued an executive order prohibiting transactions with the Sudanese government. (Africa News, 10/14/2006, “President Bush Signs Darfur Peace and Accountability Act”) |
