British Imperialism in Sudan Timeline

1899-1955: The British Conquest


The British imperialists forcibly engaged Sudan and imposed colonial rule. The British imperialists segregated the northern and southern people of Sudan. The northern people were not permitted to visit the south. British invested in the northern region and at the same time developed the south which strengthened the conflict between the northern and southern parts of Sudan.

This event is significant of the colonizing in Sudan because it isolated the people of both the northern and southern parts of Sudan. Due to the interference of the British operation in Sudan, this led to the conflict between the seperated parts of Sudan which also led to the civil war.


1956: Sudan Becomes Independent

On the date of January 1, 1956, Sudan gained independence from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium (British and Egyptian government that administrated Sudan) which also governed the southern and northern Sudan seperately. The 1956 constitution did not address the important issues that continue persuade conflict; if Sudan should be a secular or Islamist state, and the country's federal strucure. The government of Sudan promised to southerners to create a federal system, which led to a mutiny by southern army officers which launched the first of Sudan's two north-south civil wars.





This is important to Sudan's history because it created autonomy from the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. The government of Sudan promised to the southerners to create a federal system, but it led to Sudan's first north-south civil wars. The 1956 constitution decided if Sudan should not be religious or of Islamist religion.



1955-1972: First Civil War Occurs

In the first civil war, southern rebels, called the Anya Nya, fought against the government of Sudan (GOS) for greater independence. By 1969, the Anya Nya administrated most of southern Sudan. In 1971, the rebel group integrated in the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM). SSLM is the precursor to today's Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). The war ended with the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement (set of compromises within a 1972 treaty which ended the first Sudanese Civil War) between SSLM and GOS, which granted significant freedom to southern Sudan on internal issues and also promised the Abyei area (located on the north-south border) the right to hold a election to decide whether they would remain a part of northern Sudan or join the newly formed Southern Region.


The Anya Nya showed lots of courage and strength to fight against the GOS for their independence. The word about Anya Nya spread in 1969 which led to the control of most of southern Sudan's domains. The Anya Nya articulated to the SSLM which then the SSLM achieved a set of compromises with the GOS in 1972. 

1983-2005: Second Civil War 


In 1983, the Second Civil War flared up when President Jaafar Nimeiri presented the Sharia Law (also known as Islamic law and is the moral code and religious law of Islam) and reneged on the Addis Ababa Agreement's providing an election in Abyei. In 1989, the conflict between the SPLM/A and the GOS was settled with a peace agreement and suspension of the Sharia Law.


The occurrence in the Second Civil War was devastating due to the fact that two and a half million people died and four million people displaced between 1983 and 2005. In 1999, the GOS  used aerial tactics (aerial bombardments and helicopter gunships) to invade southern Sudanese civilians. There were 65 affirmed aerial bombings of the citizens in southern Sudan in 1999. In 2000, the number of skirmishes more than doubled to 132, and tripled in 2001 to 195 of confirmed bombings.  

President Jaafar Nimeiri



2002-2005: The Accord That Ended The Second Civil War


In the month of June 2002, the SPLM/A and the GOS address to end Sudan's Second Civil War. The negotiations concluded in date of January 9, 2005 with the agreement of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The CPA composed of six protocols between 2002-2005. The six protocols includes of: 

  • A six-year Interim Period, at the end of which allowed the people of southern Sudan to right to vote in a self-determination referendum to choose whether to abide with Sudan or to secede.
  • A ending of hostilities between the SPLA and the SAF (National Army of the Government of Sudan) and the sustenance of SPLA forces in the south and SAF forces in the north.
  • The establishment of a secular, semi-autonomous Southern Sudan with its own self governing legislative, executive, and judicial institutions. 
  • The capabilities sharing arrangements between Sudan's two major political parties, the SPLM and National Congress Party (NCP), as well as smaller parties, at the national and Southern Sudan levels of government.
  • Profits from oil extraction in southern Sudan were split to 50-50 between the national and southern Sudan levels of government.
  • Democratic elections to occur during the Interim Period.
  • The organization of a unique special administrative status for the Abyei area, as well as a election for the "residents" of Abyei, to happen at the same time as the Southern Sudan elections.

This is important because the consensus within the provisions of the CPA, the people of Southern Sudan voted in the Southern Sudan election on January 9, 2011. Six months later after the referendum, on July 9, 2011, the Interim Period came to an end and South Sudan became the world's newest nation.

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