THE REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN
Sudan, which in Arabic means “Land of the Blacks” is the largest African country and is the tenth largest country in the world by area. Situated at the crossroads between the Horn of Africa and the Middle East, Sudan is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, Kenya and Uganda to the southeast, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest.
THE FIRST CIVIL WAR AND INDEPENDENCE
Sudan gained independence from Great Britain in 1956 a year after the first Sudanese civil war between the North and the South began which killed an estimated 500,000 people and caused staggering displacement and lasted 17 years. In 1972, a cessation of the north-south conflict was agreed upon under the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement, following talks which were sponsored by the World Council of Churches. This led to a ten-year pause in the national conflict.
