The Role Of The United States In The Split Of Sudan

In July 2011 Sudan split into two sovereign states after a long civil war between the central government in the north and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/army in the south. The war occurred in two phases(1955-1972; 1983-2005) in which more than two million people were killed and another four million displaced in its second phase. The root cause of the civil war was explained by three deferent approaches. The first approach explains the war as a result of colonial policies that governed north and southern Sudan as two different entities with two different policies(Divide and Rule). As the colonial condominium administration modernized northern Sudan and encouraged Islam and Arabism, southern Sudan was cut off from the rest of the country, divided into small chiefdoms and left for tribal chiefs to rule on behalf of the British(Southern Policy). The second approach explains the civil war as a religious and national identity conflict between the Arab Muslims Sudanese in the north and the non-Arab Christians and animists Sudanese in the south. The Islamic and Arabic identity that the north tried to impose in Sudan since its independence had negative impact on the southerners and contributed to the outbreak of the civil war after the independence. The third approach explains the conflict as a conflict over natural resources. Northern policies to exploit southern resources for the benefit of the north were opposed strongly by the southerners. Chapter two of this thesis outlines the development of the root cause of the civil war in Sudan from a result of colonial policies to a religious and national identity conflict after the independence of Sudan in 1956, ending into a conflict over natural resources in 1980 s till the signature of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the second war in 2005. The split of Sudan followed a referendum held in January 2011 in which more than 98% of southern Sudanese voted for secession from the north.This split would have not been if not for the great role played by the United States in pushing the two warring parties to sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that paved the way for the secession of South Sudan in 2011. United States efforts in Sudan’s peace process came in the event of the National Islamic Front’s(NIF) radical policies that threatened its interest in the region as well as its national security. NIF was a radical Islamic movement that was found in 1976 by the Islamic fundamentalist Hassan El-Turabi, who had ambitions to Islamize Sudan and turns it into a center of Pan Islamic activities in Africa. The movement aligned itself to all the political regimes that passed through the history of Sudan after its transformation into a political party in 1979, and influenced the Sudanese government since then till it dominated it in 1989. NIF was one of the only two Islamic movements to secure political powers around the globe after the Islamic regime in Iran. NIF has had connections with international terrorists’ networks that kept targeting United States’ interest in the horn of Africa and Middle East and managed to hit United States at home and abroad several times. Chapter three of this thesis examines NIF’s radical policies that influenced United States relations with Sudan and led to the deterioration of bilateral relations between the two countries in 1990 s.This thesis as well examines United States policy toward Sudan during both Clinton and Bush Presidential periods. It explains how United States foreign policy toward Sudan had been influenced mostly by evangelical groups that lobbied to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government for religious persecution and slavery of Christians minority in southern Sudan. Chapter four outlines a brief introduction of evangelical groups in United States and how this group had been active in influencing U.S. foreign policy since its foundation. The chapter examines Clinton’s aggressive policy toward Sudan and the objective of his policy. It discusses Clinton’s attempt to overthrow the NIF regime in Sudan by isolating the country and supporting the southern rebellion. It also examines Bush’s reversed policy toward Sudan and the reasons he redirected U.S. policy toward Sudan in 2001. It argues that the failure of Clinton’s policy to achieve its objective and management of NIF to bypass Clinton’s sanctions and using it to its own advantage, beside the emergence of oil factor and the need to new sources of oil supply and evangelical pressure on him to intercede and save the Christian minority in the south in addition to the significance to counter terrorism and Sudan’s offer to cooperate providing information about Al-Qaeda after the 9/11 incident were behind Bush’s change of policy toward Sudan.In general, this thesis examines the role played by the United States in Sudan peace process that led to the secession of southern Sudan in 2011. It tries to explain how evangelical groups influenced United States policy toward Sudan and resulted into the secession of southern Sudan in 2011.