Sudan

• hot and dry;
• arid desert;
• rainy season varies by region (April to November)

• petroleum;
• small reserves of iron ore, copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, gold;
• hydropower

arable land:

NA

permanent crops:

NA

other:

NA (2005)

total:

37.32 cu km/yr (3%/1%/97%)

per capita:

1,030 cu m/yr (2000)

• inadequate supplies of potable water;
• wildlife populations threatened by excessive hunting;
• soil erosion;
• desertification;
• periodic drought

party to:

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified:

none of the selected agreements

noun:

Sudanese (singular and plural)

adjective:

Sudanese

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1.03 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

1.24 male(s)/female

total population:

1.02 male(s)/female (2011 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of the Sudan

conventional short form:

Sudan

local long form:

Jumhuriyat as-Sudan

local short form:

As-Sudan

former:

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan

• Federal republic ruled by the National Congress Party the (NCP), which came to power by military coup in 1989;
• the CPA-mandated Government of National Unity, which since 2005 provided a percentage of leadership posts to the south Sudan-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), was disbanded following the secession of South Sudan.

name:

Khartoum

geographic coordinates:

15 36 N, 32 32 E

time difference:

UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

• Constitutional Court of nine justices;
• National Supreme Court;
• National Courts of Appeal;
• other national courts;
• National Judicial Service Commission will undertake overall management of the National Judiciary

• Democratic Unionist Party or DUP [Hatim al-SIR];
• Democratic Unionist Party-Original or DUPO;
• National Congress Party or NCP [Umar Hassan al-BASHIR];
• Popular Congress Party or PCP [Hassan al-TURABI];
• Umma Federal Party or UFP;
• Umma Renewal and Reform Party or URRP

• Umma Party [SADIQ Siddiq al-Mahdi];
• Popular Congress Party or PCP [Hassan al-TURABI];
• Democratic Unionist Party [Muhammad Uthman al-MIRGHANI];
• Darfur rebel groups including the Justice and Equality Movement or JEM [Jabril IBRAHIM and other factional leaders] and the Sudan Liberation Movement or SLM [various factional leaders]

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Emad Mirghani ALTOHAMY

chancery:

2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 338-8565

FAX:

[1] (202) 667-2406

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Joseph D. STAFFORD, III

embassy:

Sharia Ali Abdul Latif Street, Khartoum

mailing address:

P.O. Box 699, Khartoum; APO AE 09829

telephone:

[249] (183) 774-700 through 704

FAX:

[249] (183) 774-137

• three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black with a green isosceles triangle based on the hoist side;
• colors and design based on the Arab Revolt flag of World War I, but the meanings of the colors are expressed as follows: red signifies the struggle for freedom, white is the color of peace, light, and love, black represents Sudan itself (in Arabic 'Sudan' means black), green is the color of Islam, agriculture, and prosperity

name:

"Nahnu Djundulla Djundulwatan" (We Are the Army of God and of Our Land)

lyrics/music:

Sayed Ahmad Muhammad SALIH/Ahmad MURJAN

note: adopted 1956; the song originally served as the anthem of the Sudanese military

agriculture:

80%

industry:

7%

services:

13% (1998 est.)

lowest 10%:

2.7%

highest 10%:

26.7%

• gold;
• oil and petroleum products;
• cotton, sesame, livestock, groundnuts, gum arabic, sugar

general assessment:

• well-equipped system by regional standards and being upgraded;
• cellular communications started in 1996 and have expanded substantially with wide coverage of most major cities

domestic:

consists of microwave radio relay, cable, fiber optic, radiotelephone communications, tropospheric scatter, and a domestic satellite system with 14 earth stations

international:

• country code - 249;
• linked to the EASSy and FLAG fiber-optic submarine cable systems;
• satellite earth stations - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean), 1 Arabsat (2010)

• the Sudanese Government directly controls TV and radio, requiring that both media reflect government policies;
• TV has a permanent military censor;
• a private radio station is in operation (2007)

total:

5,978 km

country comparison to the world: 30

narrow gauge:

4,578 km 1.067-m gauge; 1,400 km 0.600-m gauge for cotton plantations (2008)

total:

11,900 km

country comparison to the world: 131

paved:

4,320 km

unpaved:

7,580 km (2000)

total:

2

country comparison to the world: 143

by type:

cargo 2 (2010)

• 18-33 years of age for male and female compulsory and voluntary military service;
• 1-2 year service obligation;
• a requirement that completion of national service was mandatory before entering public or private sector employment has been cancelled (2009)

males age 16-49:

10,433,973

females age 16-49:

10,411,443 (2010 est.)

males age 16-49:

6,475,530

females age 16-49:

6,840,885 (2010 est.)

male:

532,030

female:

512,476 (2010 est.)

• the effects of Sudan's almost constant ethnic and rebel militia fighting since the mid-20th century have penetrated all of the neighboring states;
• Chad wishes to be a helpful mediator in resolving the Darfur conflict, and in 2010 established a joint border monitoring force with Sudan, which has helped to reduce cross-border banditry and violence;
• as of 2006, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda provided shelter for over a half million Sudanese refugees, which include 240,000 Darfur residents driven from their homes by Janjawid armed militia and Sudanese military forces;
• as of January 2011, Sudan, in turn, hosted about 138,700 Eritreans, 43,000 Chadians, and smaller numbers of Ethiopians;
• Sudan accuses Eritrea of supporting Sudanese rebel groups;
• efforts to demarcate the porous boundary with Ethiopia proceed slowly due to civil and ethnic fighting in eastern Sudan;
• Sudan claims but Egypt de facto administers security and economic development of Halaib region north of the 22nd parallel boundary;
• periodic violent skirmishes with Sudanese residents over water and grazing rights persist among related pastoral populations along the border with the Central African Republic;
• South Sudan-Sudan boundary represents 1 January 1956 alignment, final alignment pending negotiations and demarcation;
• final sovereignty status of Abyei Area pending negotiations between South Sudan and Sudan

refugees (country of origin):

• 100,464 (Eritrea);
• 31,871 (Chad);
• 4,421 (Ethiopia) (2011)

IDPs:

more than 2.4 million (civil war 1983-2005; ongoing conflict in Darfur region; government and rebel fighting along South Sudan border) (2011)

current situation:

• Sudan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children who are subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking;
• Sudanese women and girls, particularly those from rural areas or who are internally displaced, are vulnerable to forced labor as domestic workers in homes throughout the country;
• some of these women and girls are subsequently sexually abused by male occupants of the household or forced to engage in commercial sex acts;
• Sudanese women and girls are subjected to domestic servitude in Middle Eastern countries, such as Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and to forced sex trafficking in European countries;
• some Sudanese men who voluntarily migrate to the Middle East as low-skilled laborers face conditions indicative of forced labor;
• Sudanese children transit Yemen en route to Saudi Arabia, where they are used in forced begging and street vending, and reportedly work in exploitative labor situations for Sudanese traders in the Central African Republic;
• Sudan is a transit and destination country for Ethiopian and Eritrean women subjected to domestic servitude in Sudan and Middle Eastern countries;
• Sudan is a destination for Ethiopian, Somali, and possibly Thai women subjected to forced prostitution;
• Sudanese children in Darfur were forcibly conscripted, at times through abduction, and used by armed groups

tier rating:

• Tier 3 - Sudan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so;
• while the government took some initial steps to acknowledge the existence of trafficking, draft anti-trafficking legislation, prosecute suspected traffickers, demobilize and reintegrate child soldiers, and waive overstay fines for foreign domestic workers, its efforts to combat human trafficking through law enforcement, protection, or prevention measures were undertaken in an ad hoc fashion, rather than as the result of strategic planning;
• the government convicted three traffickers, but did not officially identify trafficking victims or make public data regarding its efforts to combat human trafficking;
• its proxy militias reportedly unlawfully recruited and used child soldiers during the reporting period, and it did not take action to conclude a propsed action plan with the UN to address the problem (2012)