Currently,the politics of Sudan takes place in the framework of a federal provisional government. Previously,a president was head of state,head of government,and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two chambers,the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (higher),of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court. However,following a deadly civil war and the still ongoing genocide in Darfur,Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However,al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup which occurred on April 11,2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council or TMC. On 20 August 2019,the TMC dissolved giving its authority over to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan,who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022,in the process of transitioning to democracy. However,the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019,when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated,tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when,as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army,he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south;he subsequently replaced President Ahmed al-Mirghani as head of state. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992,al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party,which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009,al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC),for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing,rape,and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020,the Government of Sudan announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.
Darfur is a region of western Sudan. Dār is an Arabic word meaning "home [of]" –the region was named Dardaju while ruled by the Daju,who migrated from Meroëc. 350 AD,and it was renamed Dartunjur when the Tunjur ruled the area. Darfur was an independent sultanate for several hundred years until 1874,when it fell to the Sudanese warlord Rabih az-Zubayr. The region was later invaded and incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. As an administrative region,Darfur is divided into five federal states:Central Darfur,East Darfur,North Darfur,South Darfur and West Darfur. Because of the War in Darfur between Sudanese government forces and the indigenous population,the region has been in a state of humanitarian emergency and genocide since 2003. The factors include religious and ethnic rivalry,and the rivalry between farmers and herders.
The Baggāra or Chadian Arabs are a nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arab and Arabized indigenous African ancestry,inhabiting a portion of the Sahel mainly between Lake Chad and the Nile river near south Kordofan,numbering over six million. They are known as Baggara and Abbala in Sudan,and as Shuwa Arabs in Cameroon,Nigeria and Western Chad. The term Shuwa is said to be of Kanuri origin.
The Janjaweed are a Sudanese Arab militia group that operates in Sudan,particularly in Darfur,and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United Nations definition,Janjaweed membership consists of Sudanese Arab tribes,the core of whom are from the Abbala Arabs,traditionally employed in camel herding,with significant recruitment from the Baggara,who are traditionally employed in cattle herding.
Ali Osman Mohammed Taha is a Sudanese politician who was First Vice President of Sudan from July 2011 to December 2013. Previously he was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1995,First Vice President from 1995 to January 2005,and Second Vice President from August 2005 to July 2011. He is a member of the National Congress Party.
The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army is a Sudanese rebel group active in Darfur,Sudan. It was founded as the Darfur Liberation Front by members of three indigenous ethnic groups in Darfur:the Fur,the Zaghawa,and the Masalit,among whom were the leaders Abdul Wahid al Nur of the Fur and Minni Minnawi of the Zaghawa.
The War in Darfur,also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War,was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) rebel groups began fighting against the government of Sudan,which they accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The government responded to attacks by carrying out a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. This resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the indictment of Sudan's president,Omar al-Bashir,for genocide,war crimes,and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court.
The Government of Sudan is the federal provisional government created by the Constitution of Sudan having executive,parliamentary,and the judicial branches. Previously,a president was head of state,head of government,and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two houses –the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (upper) –of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court. However,following the Second Sudanese Civil War and the still ongoing genocide in Darfur,Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However,al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup on April 11,2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council (TMC). On 20 August 2019,the TMC dissolved giving its authority over to the Transitional Sovereignty Council,who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022,in the process of transitioning to democracy. However,the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021.
Suliman Arcua Minnawi,also known as "Minni Minnawi",is a Sudanese politician who was the leader of the largest faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army. A former educator,Minnawi was the Secretary of Sudan Liberation Army leader,Abdul Wahid Nur,before the organisation split in 2004. Minnawi signed a treaty,known as the Darfur Peace Agreement,with the Khartoum government in May 2006. Nevertheless,in July 2006,fighting broke out around the North Darfur town of Korma,resulting in the deaths of at least 80 people. In the same year,Minnawi was appointed the top Sudanese official in the Darfur region,as chairman of the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority,and was technically the fourth ranking member of the Presidency,as Senior Assistant to the President of the Republic.
Musa Hilal is a Sudanese Arab tribal chief and militia leader and adviser to the Sudanese Minister of Internal Affairs. His Um Jalul clan exercised tribal leadership of the Arab Mahamid tribe in Darfur. The Mahamid are part of a larger confederation of camel-herding (Abbala) tribes of the Northern Rizeigat. Musa is the leader of the Janjaweed militia,which was responsible for a massive military campaign against civilians in Darfur in 2003,as part of a counterinsurgency effort against Darfur rebel groups. On 21 January 2008,the Federal Government of Sudan announced the nomination of Musa Hilal as the chief advisor of the Ministry of Federal Affairs in Sudan. This position allows Mr. Musa to coordinate with regional leaders surrounding Darfur,as well as with Arab tribal groups,on the relations of the military regime.
The Darfur Peace Agreement may refer to one of three peace agreements that were signed by the Government of Sudan and Darfur-based rebel groups in 2006,2011 and 2020 with the intention of ending the Darfur Conflict.
The vice president of Sudan is the second highest political position obtainable in Sudan. Currently there is a provision for one de facto vice president,deputy chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council,who is appointed by the chairman of the council. Historically either the first or the second vice president was from Southern Sudan. From 2011 until the abolition of the post in 2019,the second vice president was from Darfur.
Sudanese nomadic conflicts are non-state conflicts between rival nomadic tribes taking place in the territory of Sudan and,since 2011,South Sudan. Conflict between nomadic tribes in Sudan is common,with fights breaking out over scarce resources,including grazing land,cattle and drinking water. Some of the tribes involved in these clashes have been the Messiria,Maalia,Rizeigat and Bani Hussein Arabic tribes inhabiting Darfur and West Kordofan,and the Dinka,Nuer and Murle African ethnic groups inhabiting South Sudan. Conflicts have been fueled by other major wars taking place in the same regions,in particular the Second Sudanese Civil War,the War in Darfur and the Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
The Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile was an armed conflict in the Sudanese southern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile between the Sudanese Army (SAF) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N),a northern affiliate of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in South Sudan. After some years of relative calm following the 2005 agreement which ended the second Sudanese civil war between the Sudanese government and SPLM rebels,fighting broke out again in the lead-up to South Sudan independence on 9 July 2011,starting in South Kordofan on 5 June and spreading to the neighboring Blue Nile state in September. SPLM-N,splitting from newly independent SPLM,took up arms against the inclusion of the two southern states in Sudan with no popular consultation and against the lack of democratic elections. The conflict is intertwined with the War in Darfur,since in November 2011 SPLM-N established a loose alliance with Darfuri rebels,called Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF).
Central Darfur State is a state in south-western Sudan,and one of five comprising the Darfur region. It was created in January 2012 as a result of the ongoing peace process for the wider Darfur region. The state capital is Zalingei. The state was formed from land that had been part of the states of West Darfur and South Darfur.
The Lol State was a state of South Sudan with the capital in Raga,that existed between 2 October 2015 and 22 February 2020. It was located in the Bahr el Ghazal region,which is in the northwest section of the country. Lol state bordered Haut-Mbomou and Haute-Kotto in the Central African Republic to the west,South Darfur and East Darfur in Sudan to the north,the disputed region of Kafia Kingi to the northwest,Aweil East State to the northeast,Aweil State to the east,Gbudwe State to the south,and Wau State to the southeast. The state was created alongside 27 other states after a decree issuing the creation of 28 states took place. It was dissolved at the conclusion of the South Sudanese Civil War.
Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,generally referred to mononymously as Hemedti,Hemetti,Hemeti,or Hemitte,is a Janjaweed leader from the Rizeigat tribe in Darfur,who was the Deputy head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. Since 2013,Hemetti has commanded the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). He was considered by The Economist to be the most powerful person in Sudan as of early July 2019.
Adeeb Abdel Rahman Youssef is a Sudanese human rights activist and politician. From 2003 he documented evidence of atrocities in his native Darfur. For his activism he was imprisoned and tortured by Sudanese authorities. At one point he moved to the United States where he remained for several years and studied at George Mason University. After the Sudanese revolution he served as governor of Central Darfur from 27 July 2020 until his removal during the 2021 Sudanese coup d'état on 25 October.
