June 29 (Reuters) - Southern Sudan is set to secede on July 9 after a largely peaceful January referendum, but unresolved conflicts plague both the north and the south of the country.
Sudan has been riven by disputes over ethnicity, religion, ideology and oil for decades.
Here are some details:
UNDER COLONIAL POWERS:
-- Sudan in the nineteenth century was a dependency of Egypt, which was itself a province of the Ottoman Empire, and governed by the same multiracial, Turkish-speaking ruling class that governed Egypt.
-- Egypt had conquered all of Sudan by 1874 and had encouraged British interference in the region. This had aroused Muslim opposition due to the inequalities between those ruling Sudan, contrasted sharply with those who were less well off.
-- Religious violence grew as devout Muslims were scandalised by the presence of non-Muslim Europeans as provincial governors. Muhammad Ahmad, who later proclaimed himself the Mahdi or guided one of Islam, managed to harness the discontent into a unified movement that transcended tribalism and gathered the faithful into a formidable military machine.
-- The Mahdi's crowning victory was the capture of Khartoum, on Jan. 26, 1885, defended by British General Charles George Gordon, who, against al-Mahdi's express order, was killed in the final assault.
-- The Mahdi established a Muslim theocracy in Sudan that lasted until 1898, when his forces were defeated by the British.
-- The British ruled, generally in partnership with Egypt, until the region achieved independence in 1956.
-- Even during British rule, the administration of Sudan was broadly split between the mainly Muslim north and south, where many are Christian or follow traditional beliefs.
INDEPENDENCE AND WAR:
-- There have been only a few years of peace between north and south since independence in 1956.
-- In 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the main southern rebel group led by John Garang, launched a war against the northern-based government, partly sparked by the imposition of Islamic law, sharia, by the government.
-- The war pitted the black African south against the Arabic-speaking north. The war was complicated by tribal and factional fighting, as well as the conflict over oil.
-- In 2005, a deal, sealed by the SPLA and the Khartoum government, cleared the way for a comprehensive peace to end the 21-year-old war in the south that had claimed more than 2 million lives. The deal promised southerners self-determination and offered a referendum after six years on secession.
-- Since then, the northern ruling National Congress Party and the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) have bickered over implementing almost every detail of the 2005 accord.
DARFUR:
-- Violence in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels have been fighting government troops backed by largely Arab militias, has fallen from its peak in 2003 and 2004 but a surge in attacks since December has forced yet more to flee.
-- The United Nations said that at least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have fled Darfur. Khartoum has put the death toll at about 10,000.
-- The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other northern officials on charges of war crimes in Darfur.
ABYEI REGION:
-- Abyei sits on Sudan's ill-defined north-south border and is claimed by both halves of the country. In many ways it is a microcosm of all the conflicts that have split Sudan for decade, an explosive mix of ethnic tension, ambiguous boundaries, oil and age-old suspicion and resentment. Abyei proved so intractable that it was left unresolved in 2005.
-- Abyei's residents were promised a referendum on whether to join the north or the south but it did not take place after northern and southern leaders failed to appoint an organising commission or agree on who was qualified to vote.
BUILD UP TO SECESSION:
-- In January 2011 South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to declare its independence, opening the door to Africa's newest state and a fresh period of uncertainty for the fractured region. Bashir formally accepted the result on Feb. 7.
-- On May 21, the north seized control of Abyei's main town with tanks and troops, drawing international criticism. More than 100,000 people have fled violence in the area, the United Nations has said.
-- After talks, the two sides signed a deal on June 20 to pull troops from Abyei and bring in Ethiopian peacekeepers. But analysts say the threat of renewed conflict will persist without a longer-term solution. (Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
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