Sudan

This arid country was actually under Egyptian rule thousands of years before Christ. Later, it was part of the kingdom of Kush, which was also during Bible times. Egyptian control of the area was revived in the 1800’s, and the country saw considerable development at that time. When the UK took control of Egypt in the late 1800’s, it extended its control to Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. Sudan gained entire independence four years later.

The governments ruling Sudan since its independence were corrupt, and constantly changing. The north and south had been long divided by ethnicities, developments, and religion. When an Islamic government was implemented, the discontent was so extreme, that it led to civil war, culminating in a final rift between the two regions in 2011, making South Sudan a separate country. Eight years later in a coup, the country terminated a brutal regime that had lasted thirty years and killed over three-hundred thousand of its citizens. This totalitarian ruler has been replaced by a transitional council.

Sudan, nearly a fifth of the size of the US, is predominately desert, and still suffering from the results of the political unrest and recent civil war. While the country’s debts are high, it lost most of its oil reserves when South Sudan ceded. The military has been extremely involved not only in the country’s politics, but also in its economy, controlling many of its businesses and industries. Approximately half of its citizens are below the poverty line, and for many, day-to-day existence is their chief concern. Over two million Sudanese have fled the unrest and can mostly be found in refugee camps in surrounding countries.

Arabic and English are the official languages, while Nubian, Ta Bedawie, and Fur are also commonly spoken. Approximately sixty-percent of its nearly forty-seven million citizens are literate, and nearly all are Sunni Muslim. However, hope is dawning for the Sudanese: after thirty-seven years of having Islam as a state religion and governing force, Sudan became a secular state in 2020.

Missionaries in Sudan:

Missionaries in Africa (listed with BIMI account numbers)