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 Egypt |  Sudan |
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Contact between Egypt and Sudan goes back to trade and conflict during ancient times. In 1820, Egypt conquered Sudan, and continued to occupy the country, later as a condominium under the British, until Sudan declared Independence in 1956. Sudan later joined the Arab League, of which Egypt is a founding member. Relations between successive governments in Egypt and Sudan have warmed and cooled relations at various times. Relations today are cordial, but tensions remain. [1]
Contact between Egypt and Sudan goes back to ancient times, when ancient trades routes have roots to 4000 B.C. [2] The ancient Kingdom of Kush in northern Sudan and ancient Egypt engaged in trade, warfare and cultural exchange. [3] During the New Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt conquered further south into Kushite lands. Later, the Kushites would conquer Egypt, founding the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. Afterwards, Egypt would fall to the Persians, Greeks, and later Romans. During this time, Christianity spread to Egypt and Sudan. Egypt was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate in 652 AD, but the caliphate failed to spread into Sudan. A peace treaty was signed between Muslim Egypt and Christian Sudan called the Baqt, lasting centuries. After the Ottomans conquered Egypt, Sudan gradually converted to Islam. [4]
While Egypt was a province of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt conquered Sudan, led by the Ottoman Governor Muhammad Ali Pasha, founding the city Khartoum. After the Egyptian-Ottoman Wars from 1831 to 1841, Egypt became an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, governed by the Muhammad Ali Dynasty. During this time period, British involvement in Egyptian grew, forming an Anglo-French debt commission that assumed responsibility for managing Egypt's fiscal affairs, that eventually forced Isma'il Pasha to abdicate in favor of his more pro-British son, Tawfiq Pasha. [5] [6] The British administrator Charles Gordon was appointed Governor-General of Sudan. A Sudanese religious leader Muhammad Ahmad declared himself the Mahdi and revolted against Egyptian rule. Egypt, with the support of the British, failed to suppress the uprising, and attempted to evacuate Sudan. Though Gordon was to organize the evacuation of Sudan, he found himself in the siege of Khartoum by Mahdist forces, eventually leading to his death. The Mahdist State continued to exist until 1899, when it was defeated by an Anglo-Egyptian force, establishing Anglo-Egyptian rule until 1956. During this time, the British effectively conquered Egypt after suppressing an anti-British uprising in 1882.
The Condominium Agreement of January 19, 1899 provided for a joint administration of the Sudan by the British and Egyptian governments. Yet it was clear from the outset that Egypt's part of this administration was to be purely nominal. The supreme civil and military command of the Sudan was vested in the governor-general, who was nominated by the British government. Thus his appointment by Khedivial decree had few practical implications. It is, therefore, no wonder that during the whole period of the Condominium, all the governor-generals were British, and owed allegiance to the British government. [7]
While Sudan was officially a condominium between the governments of Egypt and Britain, divided from Egypt along the 22nd parallel, in reality the British Governor General effectively ruled Sudan as a colony. [8] [9] After the Egyptian revolution of 1919 and declaration of Egyptian independence in 1922, Egyptian nationalists demanded Egyptian authority over Sudan, citing historical connections with 'Unity in the Nile Valley', but British government involvement remained, especially after the assassination of Governor-General Sir Lee Stack, after which Egypt was forced to retreat all forces from Sudan. [10] Egyptian nationalism during this time believed that Sudan rightfully belonged to Egypt, though Sudanese revolutionaries such as the White Flag League supported an independent Sudan. [11] [12] [13] While the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936 allowed Egypt to host troops in Sudan, the Sudan remained a de facto British colony. Two imperial powers, Britain and Egypt, sought to control Sudan. [14] [15] This rivalry led to the rise of Sudanese elites who tended to split into anti-Egyptian and anti-British factions. [14] The National Umma Party under Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi supported Sudanese Independence from Egypt, while the National Unionist Party (NUP) under Ismail al-Azhari favored union with Egypt. [16]
On January 25, 1947, the British government informed Egypt that it intended to prepare the Sudan for self-government, though Egypt opposed self-government for the Sudan. [17] [9] The Egyptian government sought the removal of British troops in Sudan, and because of the historical connection between Egypt and Sudan, Sudan should be granted self-government under a political union with Egypt. [18] Anti-British resentment in Egypt continued to rise, and on 16 October 1951, the Egyptian government abrogated the agreements underpinning the condominium, and declared that Egypt and Sudan were legally united as the Kingdom of Egypt and Sudan, with King Farouk as the King of Egypt and the Sudan. [19] However, King Farouk was overthrown during the 1952 Egyptian Revolution by the Free Officers Movement, a group of army officers led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser, declaring the Egypt a republic in on June 18, 1953. While Naguib, who was half-Sudanese and spent many years of his childhood in Sudan, supported a union between Egypt and Sudan, a treaty was signed in 1953 allowing Sudanese independence after 3 years. [20] [21] [22] In the 1953 Sudanese parliamentary election, Ismail al-Azhari's NUP received a majority of seats in parliament. Despite winning a majority in the elections, Azhari realized that popular opinion had shifted against an Egyptian-Sudan union. [23] Azhari, who had been the major spokesman for the "unity of the Nile Valley", therefore reversed the NUP's stand and supported Sudanese independence. [24] On December 19, 1955, the Sudanese parliament, under Azhari's leadership, unanimously adopted a declaration of independence that became effective on January 1, 1956, creating the Republic of the Sudan.
Gamal Abdel Nasser was able to politically outmaneuver Naguib, becoming president of Egypt in 1956. Sudan under Azhari had cordial relations relations with Egypt, until disagreements in 1958 over the border and water resources. [25] Nasser's Egypt later united with Syria, forming the United Arab Republic (U.A.R), while a coup overthrew Azhari's government in that same year. Relations with the UAR and the new government under Prime Minister Abdallah Khalil improved, with both governments signing an agreement over the Nile's water in 1959. [25] [26] In 1969, a conspiracy of Sudanese officers overthrew the Sudanese government, led by Colonel Jaafar Nimeiry. Nimeiry adopted a pro-Arab nationalist political position, including signing the Tripoli Charter with the UAR and Libya, declaring the coordination of policies. [27] He also signed treaties with Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, standing by him after Sadat's peace treaty with Israel. [28] [29] [30] [31]
The Nile, Egypt's lifeline, flows through Sudan before reaching Egypt. [14] An estimated 95 per cent of all Egyptians depend on the Nile for fresh water. [14] In 1959 the two countries agreed on a formula for sharing the water, whereby Sudan was authorized to use approximately one quarter of the flow and Egypt about three quarters. [14] The division was predicated on a set annual flow, which varies enormously from year to year. [14] There is usually a surplus above this amount. [14] As a result, use of Nile water by other riparians had not, by 2011, resulted in a crisis with Egypt and Sudan. [14] Nevertheless, none of the other eight riparian states was signature to, nor received any water allocation in, this 1959 bilateral agreement. [14] Since 2000 Sudan had begun expressing an interest in changing the terms of the agreement so that it would be able to use a larger percentage of the flow. [14] Seven of the eight other riparian states—Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda—also pressed for a revised water allocation formula. [14] In 1999 the nine countries formed the Nile Basin Initiative as a forum for discussion about cooperating in the development of the Nile Basin. [14] Since then, no agreement had been reached by 2011, mainly because Egypt and Sudan refused any reduction in their share of water. [14] Egypt was also concerned that the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement would result in another riparian state in South Sudan. [14] Egypt had hoped for a united Sudan because South Sudan will be another state with which it might have to negotiate water rights. [14] In 2010 there was a sharp division between seven of the riparian states, which reached their own agreement, and opposition to that agreement by Egypt and Sudan. [14]
While Egypt and Sudan generally agreed on the Nile water question, they had failed to resolve a longstanding dispute over the location of their border near the Red Sea, an area called the Hala'ib Triangle. [14] Egypt occupied the disputed territory, but the matter remained ripe for future conflict. [14] [32] Al-Bashir revived the controversy as recently as 2010 when he stated that Hala’ib was Sudanese and would stay Sudanese. [14]
Sadat's successor, Hosni Mubarak visited Sudan in 1985 after a military coup overthrew Nimeiry that year. [33] Nimeiry lived in exile in Egypt until 1999. Relations between the two countries since the 1989 Sudanese coup have had their ups and downs. [14] The relationship reached its nadir in 1995, when elements of the Sudanese government were complicit in a plot by an Egyptian terrorist group, Gama'a Islamiyya, to assassinate Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, while he was en route from the Addis Ababa airport to an Organization of African Unity (now African Union) summit in Ethiopia's capital. [14] [34] Sudan called these "unjust and unsubstantiated claims" in a UN letter. [35] By the end of 1999, Egyptian anger toward Sudan had subsided, and President al-Bashir visited Egypt, where the two leaders agreed to normalize diplomatic relations. [14] Al-Bashir returned to Cairo in 2002, at which time they expanded cooperation on a variety of practical issues. [14] Mubarak repaid the visit by going to Khartoum the following year. [14] In 2004 al-Bashir again went to Cairo, where the two leaders signed the Four Freedoms Agreement dealing with freedom of ownership, movement, residence, and work between the two countries. [14] There has been cooperation on counterterrorism and development projects drawing water from the Nile, and the two governments agreed to establish a free-trade zone along the Egypt–Sudan border, where they would exchange commodities free of duty. [14] Sudan has particularly appreciated Egyptian verbal and moral support for its policy in Darfur. [14] Egypt also sent troops to the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur. [14] Egyptian investments in Sudan reached US$2.5 billion by 2008 while Sudanese investments in Egypt totaled almost US$200 million. [14] By 2010 Egyptian–Sudanese relations were better than they had been in many years, although several long-term contentious issues, such as the future status of South Sudan, ownership of the Hala’ib Triangle, and use of Nile water, remained unresolved. [14]
Egypt nevertheless began preparing for the possible independence of South Sudan. [14] In an effort to keep track of developments there, Egypt had about 1,500 military personnel assigned to the United Nations Mission in Sudan and had begun supporting a number of development projects in the South. [14] It had a consulate in Juba, and Mubarak traveled there in 2008. [36] Salva Kiir visited Cairo in 2009, when Egypt made clear it would accept the results of the January 2011 referendum on secession. [14] In 2010, Egypt also offered a US$300 million grant for Southern water and electricity projects along the Nile. [14]
Egypt's policy on Sudan was that it was in favour of a united Sudan, and therefore Egypt was not directly involved in the Sudan Peace Process that gave the peoples of South Sudan the right to secede and form an independent state in 2011 after the long Sudanese Civil War.[ citation needed ]
On 15 April 2023, war broke out between Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. Egypt had chosen the side of Sudanese military by supplying soldiers and warplanes. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had a close tie with the Sudan's military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. In early 2023, Egypt started a political initiative in Cairo to resolve SAF and RSF differences, but the initiative was in the favor of Sudanese military. As the fighting started Gen. Hamdan’s forces captured 27 Egyptians military men. The western officials tried to defuse the crisis, that would intensify the regional conflict. [37]
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south, and the Red Sea. It has a population of 45.7 million people as of 2022 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Its capital city is Khartoum, and its most populous city is Omdurman.
The history of Sudan refers to the territory that today makes up Republic of the Sudan and the state of South Sudan, which became independent in 2011. The territory of Sudan is geographically part of a larger African region, also known by the term "Sudan". The term is derived from Arabic: بلاد السودان bilād as-sūdān, or "land of the black people", and has sometimes been used more widely referring to the Sahel belt of West and Central Africa.
Mohamed Bey Naguib Youssef Qutb El-Qashlan, also known as Mohamed Naguib, was an Egyptian revolutionary, and, along with Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Free Officers movement of 1952 that toppled the monarchy of Egypt and Sudan, leading to the establishment of the Republic of Egypt, and the independence of Sudan.
The current flag of Sudan was adopted on 20 May 1970 and consists of a horizontal red-white-black tricolour with a green triangle at the hoist. The flag is based on the Arab Liberation Flag of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, as are the flags of Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine and formerly of the United Arab Republic, North Yemen, South Yemen, and the Libyan Arab Republic.
Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry was a Sudanese politician who served as the fourth head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President.
Ismail al-Azhari was a Sudanese nationalist and political figure. He served as the first Prime Minister of Sudan between 1954 and 1956, and as Head of State of Sudan from 1965 until he was overthrown by Gaafar Nimeiry in 1969.
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day South Sudan and Sudan. Legally, sovereignty and administration were shared between both Egypt and the United Kingdom, but in practice the structure of the condominium ensured effective British control over Sudan, with Egypt having limited local power and influence. In the meantime, Egypt itself fell under increasing British influence. Following the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, Egypt pushed for an end to the condominium, and the independence of Sudan. By agreement between Egypt and the United Kingdom in 1953, Sudan was granted independence as the Republic of the Sudan on 1 January 1956. In 2011, the south of Sudan itself became independent as the Republic of South Sudan.
The Democratic Unionist Party, also referred to by itself as the Original Democratic Unionist Party, is a political party in Sudan, closely tied to the Khatmiyya Sufi order.
The historyofAnglo-Egyptian Sudan refers to the history of Sudan from 1899 to 1955.
The Republic of Sudan was established as an independent sovereign state on 1 January 1956 upon the termination of the condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, over which sovereignty had been vested jointly in Egypt and the United Kingdom. Before 1955, however, whilst still subject to the condominium, the autonomous Sudanese government under Ismail al-Azhari had temporarily halted Sudan's progress toward self-determination, hoping to promote unity with Egypt. Despite his pro-Egyptian National Unionist Party (NUP) winning a majority in the 1953 parliamentary elections, Azhari realized that popular opinion had shifted against such a union. Azhari, who had been the major spokesman for the "unity of the Nile Valley", therefore reversed the NUP's stand and supported Sudanese independence. On December 19, 1955, the Sudanese parliament, under Azhari's leadership, unanimously adopted a declaration of independence that became effective on January 1, 1956. Azhari called for the withdrawal of foreign troops and requested the governments of Egypt and the United Kingdom to sponsor a plebiscite in advance.
The Egyptian Revolution of 1952, also known as the 1952 coup d'état and 23 July Revolution, was a period of profound political, economic, and societal change in Egypt. On 23 July 1952 the revolution began with the toppling of King Farouk in a coup d'état by the Free Officers Movement. This group of army officers was led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Revolution ushered in a wave of revolutionary politics in the Arab World, and contributed to the escalation of decolonisation, and the development of Third World solidarity during the Cold War.
The Libyan–Sudanese relations refers to the long historical relations between Libya and Sudan, both are Arab countries.
The Sudanese Communist Party is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab world, the other being the Iraqi Communist Party.
Throughout its history, Darfur has been the home to several cultures and kingdoms, such as the Daju and Tunjur kingdoms. The recorded history of Darfur begins in the seventeenth century, with the foundation of the Fur Sultanate by the Keira dynasty. In 1875, the Anglo-Egyptian condominium in Khartoum ended the dynasty. The British allowed Darfur a measure of autonomy until formal annexation in 1916. However, the region remained underdeveloped through the period of colonial rule and after independence in 1956. The majority of national resources were directed toward the riverine Arabs clustered along the Nile near Khartoum. This pattern of structural inequality and overly underdevelopment resulted in increasing restiveness among Darfuris. The influence of regional geopolitics and war by proxy, coupled with economic hardship and environmental degradation, from soon after independence led to sporadic armed resistance from the mid-1980s. The continued violence culminated in an armed resistance movement around 2003.
Sir Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, KBE was one of the leading religious and political figures during the colonial era in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1955), and continued to exert great authority as leader of the Neo-Mahdists after Sudan became independent. The British tried to exploit his influence over the Sudanese people while at the same time profoundly distrusting his motives. Throughout most of the colonial era of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British saw Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi as important as a moderate leader of the Mahdists.
Hammour Ziada is a Sudanese writer and journalist, born in Omdurman. He has worked as a civil society and human rights researcher, and currently works as journalist in Cairo. Before, he had been writing for a number of left-wing newspapers in Sudan. Two of his novels were selected for Arabic literary awards and appeared in English translations.
The 1969 Sudanese coup d'état was a successful coup, led by Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry, against the government of President Ismail al-Azhari. The coup signaled the end of Sudan's second democratic era, and saw the beginning of Nimeiry's 16 year rule.
The 1985 Sudanese coup d'état was a military coup that occurred in Sudan on 6 April 1985. The coup was staged by a group of military officers and led by the Defense Minister and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, Field Marshal Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab, against the government of President Gaafar Nimeiry.
Abdallah al-Fadil al-Mahdi was a Sudanese statesman and key figure in Sudan's path to independence by playing an important role in the "Gentlemen's Agreement" with Egypt in 1952, enabling Sudan's self-government and self-determination. Abdallah was a National Umma Party member. He resisted Ibrahim Abboud's rule, and after October 1964 revolution, he served on the Sudanese Sovereignty Council and was instrumental in establishing a mosque in the Republican Palace. Abdallah married twice and emphasised education for his children.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. Though published in 2015, this work covers events in the whole of Sudan (including present-day South Sudan) until the 2011 secession of South Sudan.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link){{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)Ginat, Rami (2017). Egypt and the Struggle for Power in Sudan: From World War II to Nasserism. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107197930.
Mills, David E. (2014). Dividing the Nile: Egypt's Economic Nationalists in the Sudan 1918–56. The American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 9789774166389.
Warburg, Gabriel R. (2013). Egypt and the Sudan: Studies in History and Politics (2nd ed.). Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 9780714632476.
Gershoni, Israel; Erlikh, Ḥagai (2000). The Nile: Histories, Cultures, Myths. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 9781555876722.
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