Sudan is described as the largest country in Africa in the source and as a nation of exceptional cultural diversity in religion, ethnicity, and language. Its territory stretches from tropical environments in the south to arid desert in the north, with the Red Sea forming its eastern frontier. Arabic and English are official languages, while Nubian, Ta Bedawie, and several groups of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, and Sudanic languages are also spoken.

The modern state gained independence on January 1, 1956, after the period of Anglo-Egyptian rule. Its subsequent political history included the military coup led by Ibrahim Abboud in 1958, the overthrow of Abboud during the October Revolution in 1964, Jafar Nimeiri’s May Revolution coup in 1969, and the National Salvation Revolution of 1989. Omar al-Bashir became president in 1993, and the government continued to confront profound regional and political divisions.

Civil war in the south began in 1962, ended temporarily with the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement, and resumed in 1983 involving government forces and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement led by John Garang. Talks in Kenya produced the 2002 Machakos Protocol, while the 2005 peace deal established a permanent ceasefire, arrangements for sharing wealth and power, and an autonomous government in the south. Darfur nevertheless remained marked by rebellion, displacement, atrocities, and international intervention.

Sudan’s economy suffered from decades of civil war, the Darfur conflict, inadequate transport and communications infrastructure, and widespread reliance on subsistence agriculture and barter. Petroleum exports began in the last quarter of 1999 and substantially increased gross domestic product, but the benefits of this prosperity were concentrated in Khartoum and its metropolitan area. The source identifies petroleum, natural gas, and smaller mineral reserves among the country’s significant resources.

Agriculture remained central to employment and production, with cotton, groundnuts, sorghum, millet, wheat, gum arabic, sugarcane, cassava, fruits, sesame, and livestock listed among the principal products. Industry included oil, cotton ginning, textiles, cement, sugar, soap, petroleum refining, pharmaceuticals, and vehicle assembly. Yet poverty, unemployment, weak infrastructure, drought, desertification, and unequal distribution of wealth continued to constrain social development.