AFRICA TENTH STOP SUDAN

SUDAN

BACKGROUND :

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass.   Occupying this massive  and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

SUDAN

The very location of the former Sudan suggests trouble : there can be few countries with such volatile borders - to the North West Libya, to the North Egypt to the East, the Red Sea, Eritrea and Ethiopia, to the South Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,to the South West the Central African Republic and to the West Chad! But as if having nine counties often in turmoil on her borders were not enough trouble, Sudan herself has been ravaged by civil war for nearly 50 years and has only in more recent times been divided into two countries Sudan and South Sudan at a democratic referendum.

Sudan

Sudan proper , that is the Northern half, is the 16th largest country in the world and has a population estimated at 37.29 millions - the 35th largest in the world. 97% of the population is Mohammedan and the remainder is Coptic, Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant. The official languages are Arabic and English.

Membership of the United Nations, the African Union ,the Arab League and the Non-Aligned Movement and observer status at the World Trade Organisation  make the country seem quite normal. However Membership of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation, the fact that the legal system is based on Islamic Law , a poor Human Rights record especially regarding ethnic cleansing and slavery (!) reveal a darker picture.

The Capital is Khartoum, which conjures up British colonial images of    "Chinese" Gordon and his death fighting the forces of the Mahdi. This fighting was inspired by the Mahdi's opposition to European efforts to wipe out slavery.                                                                                                                                         Sudan claims much older origins, going back to the Nubians and Upper Egypt of around 3,000 B.C. Sudan was a Christian country by A.D. 600 but as the newly-invented Mohammedan project grew more and more bloodily aggressive, it became Mohammedan by A.D. 700. In 1821, after centuries of various forms of primitive rule, Sudan was to fall under the control of Egypt. The Egyptian control was administratively heavy and there was continuing intermittent resistance.They introduced systematic Mohammedan religious instruction and built numerous mosques. The main trade in Sudan was slavery and this was entirely to the Egyptians' satisfaction.But under European pressure it was gradually suppressed in the 1860s. In 1899 England and Egypt reached an agreement which effectively made Sudan a British Colony with a Governor General appointed by Egypt subject to British consent.The British systematically sought to frustrate any union of Sudan and Egypt.

In World War II Sudanese forces served with the British in a variety of campaigns in North Africa . British policy was to run Sudan via a Northern Mohammedan region and a  Southern Christian region.In 1956, after a polling process, the British and Egyptians both gave up their claims to sovereignty and Sudan became independent. However in 1969 there was a military coup and the Parliament and political parties were abolished. But in 1971 Communist elements in the Army led a further coup - but this lasted only days before an anti-Communist group in the Army displaced them. From then for about 10 years, there was a virtual hiatus in the North vs South civil war.

In 1989 Mohammedan elements in the Army led another coup, suspending political parties and introducing an Islamic Legal Code. There was a purge and executions of opposing military leaders and banning of independent newspapers and jailing of leading political figures and journalists.The next years were turbulent with Mohammedan fundamentalism on the rise.War broke out along the 1,000km border with Chad between 2005 and 2007.The hostilities in the Darfur area were so intense as to make the hitherto obscure name a major news item around the world. 2.8 Million civilians were displaced and 300,000 people were said to have been killed in the course of the trouble.

The latest stage in the country's evolution was the division establishing South Sudan.

SOUTH SUDAN


The Republic of South Sudan was established in 2011 when its separation from Sudan was achieved following a referendum. The country has an estimated population of 8,000,000 which would make it the 94th largest country in the world. It has an area ranking 42nd largest in the world. Since independence a bloody civil war has broken out between ethnic Dinka and Nuer peoples. President Kiir's Dinka people have the support of Government forces which have also been aided by Ugandan troops. It is said that up to 10,000 people have been killed in the fighting, 1,000,000 displaced and 400,000 have fled as refugees to neighbouring countries.There have been moves toward a federal structure to try to heal the troubles.

The official language of South Sudan is English.

Like so many other aspects of South Sudanese life it seems, the religion of the people is a subject difficult to determine for certain. Broadly speaking the religions followed seem to be indigenous " animist", Christian, and Mohammedan. The variation in claimed percentages of each is verging on the insane. Some U.S. Government sources say that Christianity is only 10% (Library of Congress) others   a substantial minority (State Dept.)  While the Pew Research Center says 60.5 % are Christians, 32.9 % Animist and 6.2 % Mohammedan. The World Christian Encyclopedia says there are 2,700,000 Catholics which is 33% of the population.

South Sudan has placed heavy reliance on oil exports, developed with Chinese assistance, to fund up to 98% of its budget. The oil has to traverse a pipeline through Sudan and this has caused disagreements over costs of pipeline use.The IMF is anxious over the decline in reserves which are expected to halve by 2020.


More than half the population does not have access to improved water supply. Health indicators are seriously adverse with the highest maternal mortality rate in the world : 2,053.9 per 100,000 live births.The equivalent figure in Australia is.....5 per 100,000... 5! Infant mortality is 69.97 per 1,000 well below the world's worst (Mali at 106.9). In Australia the figure is 4.49.

 SUMMARY

I started off this Africa project as a matter of self -education: to make good deficiencies in my knowledge of the vast Continent and its many countries, and, to write about what I find in as entertaining and interesting  a way as I can.

But I have to admit that the knowledge that I am gaining is undermining, and disturbing the enjoyment I had expected from the exercise. The troubles of the Sudans are appalling and, in an exercise like this, it is impossible to come to grips with the peoples involved to any meaningful degree, especially when even usually reliable sources contradict one another over simple facts that elsewhere would be indisputable. As for any thought of making what I write entertaining , that would be obscene in this case - like an "entertaining" account of an air crash.

To tell the truth, I feel guilty for leading the comfortable life that I do whilst contemplating the wretchedness of the Sudanese people. Yet, at 75 years of age and living on an Aged Pension, the only practical thing I can do is to write and help bring their plight to notice.




 

AFRICA - THIRD STOP - TUNISIA

TUNISIA

Background:

Africa covers 6 per cent of the surface of the Earth and provides 20.4 per cent of Earth’s landmass. Occupying this massive and significant territory there are 1.1 Billion people. Africa is the second largest and second most populous continent on Earth.

TUNISIA

The Northernmost country in Africa, and the smallest  in its region (the Mahgreb) Tunisia also contains two of the three points in Africa closest to Europe - the closest is not in Tunisia and is opposite Gibraltar.

Historically, its existence has been an ancient but  turbulent one, due to its position and internal geography.Tunisia has a Mediterranean coastline of 1,148 Kilometres which begins running West to East before sharply turning South in one of the distinctive features of the African coastline.Nestled within this area we find the capital Tunis and also the ruins of ancient Carthage. The internal geography is notable for the including the Eastern end of the Atlas Mountains and the Northern reaches of the Sahara Desert but much of the rest of the territory is fertile soil.

The population of Tunisia is approx. 10,800,000.


We can trace the origins of Tunisia back to the Berber tribes which were the principal inhabitants.However in about the 12th Century B.C., the Phoenicians established a trading settlement on the coast, and in the 9th Century B.C. the Phoenicians and some Cypriots established the city of Carthage.  The culture and religion of the city was Phoenician.The "gods" worshipped were Baal and Tanet. Through trading and war, especially with settlements in Sicily, Carthage progressively became the most important power in the Southern Mediterranean.

This growth of Cathaginian muscle brought Carthage into conflict with Rome which viewed itself as the natural pre-eminent power in the region.The First Punic War 264 B.C. - 241 B.C. had been fought over Sicily and Corsica and was won decisively by the Romans.

Briefly - to cover a near cataclysmic period in Roman history : Carthage invaded what is now Spain in 237 B.C. Under Hamilcar Barca. But he died in 230/229 B.C.  His sons Hannibal and Hasdrubal respectively prosecuted and developed plans for the conquest of the whole of the peninsula. So strong was their situation that the Romans concluded a treaty with them, demarcating their borders of influence. In 221 B.C. Hasdrubal was assassinated  and the troops elected Hannibal to take political control as well as his military control. In 219 B.C. the people of Saguntum (Carthaginian control) appealed to Rome for protection from the Carthaginian treatment of them. ( Sounds familiar? : Danzig/Gdansk and the Nazis, and Ukraine to-day?)  This resulted in the Second Punic War 218-211 B.C. 

                                                                  HANNIBAL BARCA
On this occasion Hannibal ( and his Elephants!) crossed the Alps and invaded Italy. He repeatedly inflicted heavy to very heavy defeats on the Roman forces sent to stop him He killed 15,000 Romans at Lake Trasimene  and 50,000 (!) at Cannae. Adding depth to the offence, the Roman Armies had been led by Consuls of Rome.Rome suffered as numerous of its subject colonies abandoned their allegiance and defeats continued. But the resolute Roman character was being forged in this crucible of defeat. And persistence and desperation drove them to gradually win back what they had lost in territory and to bring Hannibal to defeat in 201 B.C. and to gain Spain as compensation for their troubles.

                        DEPICTION OF HANNIBAL'S ELEPHANTS CROSSING THE RHONE
 
Hannibal returned to Carthage - from which he had received virtually no support in his long war. His fortunes there did not recover and he was exiled in 195 B.C. and committed suicide abroad in 183/182 B.C.

There is much more to the tale but no room for us to examine it here.

                         CARTHAGO DELENDA EST -THE RUINS OF ANCIENT CARTHAGE
 
The Romans adopted the policy that " Carthage must be destroyed"( " Carthago delenda est")  proposed by 84 yrs old Cato the Elder.They conquered it in 149 B.C. They thoroughly Romanized its culture and commerce and it became a great granary for Rome. It is estimated that the region (including Tripolitania in modern Libya) was then producing 1,000,000 tonnes of cereal per annum and 25% of that was going to Rome. Beans , figs, grapes and other fruits enhanced its value to the Romans and, in due course the production and export of olive oil became substantial. The entire trade was dynamic and valuable, even down to pottery and exotic wild animals for the Roman Arenas.

In time the City became Christian as did the Empire, but it fell under the influence of the heretic Berber Bishop Donatus Magnus - from A.D. 430 to 533 the Germanic Vandals invaded the City and ruled it. At the end of that period it was re-conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire under Belisarius. But in the second half of the 7th Century the Mohammedan hordes swept all before them, and established an Arab Mohammedan rule.This was not always stable as internal Mohammedan tribal/factional hatreds ebbed and flowed. In the 12th Century the Normans of Sicily briefly regained Christian control, but they were defeated in turn by the Arab Almohad Mohammedans who drove out or forced the conversion of or killed the last Christians in Tunisia.

Such is the complexity of the situation that this did not produce stability for long, because former factional Mohammedan enemies again contested the situation. By the 14th and 15th Centuries, the Hafsid Dynasty was trading peacefully with some Christian countries. However, in the late 16th Century the coast was home to the Barbary Pirates who so bedeviled shipping in the Mediterranean.

In the early 1500s Spain took possession of a number of coastal cities. But the Ottoman Empire conquered Tunisia in 1534 restoring Mohammedan control.They carried on governance via the appointment of a Bey who in effect ruled Tunisia as an independent country. This brought Tunis into conflict with the Bey of Algiers who was in a similar independent situation.

In 1881 France conquered establishing a " Protectorate" over Tunisia in view of its unmanageable foreign debt, but left the Beys in some degree of standing until 1957.During the Second World War Nazi and Italian forces were in Tunisia in substantial numbers until the defeat suffered at the hands of the Allies  and the Axis surrender on 13th May 1943.

Tunisia gained its independence from France in 1956 and President Habib Bourgiba led a secular Government until late 1987. He was succeeded by Abidine Ben Ali a military figure who won successive elections until driven out of power in the so-called Arab Spring.He and his family were accused of massive plundering of the country's wealth via corrupt practices. The new democratically elected Government has retained the secular nature of the Government, resisting Mohammedan zealots keen to re- introduce Sharia Law which had been abolished in 1956.Tunisia's " Code of Personal Status" is regarded as one of the most progressive civil codes in the Middle East and in Mohammedan countries.

Tunisia is a member of the European Union's " European Neighbourhood Policy" which aims to develop relations with neighbouring non-member countries.

The country has moderate military forces which have stayed free of political interference. These forces have served on international U.N. deployments in a number of African countries and even in Asia.

The principal trading relationship for Tunisia is that with the European Union. Although unemployment is significant , especially among youth, the Government has been energetic and even innovative in seeking to expand the economy.


And so as I set my tired eyes resolutely West towards Algeria, and extricate myself from tiny , but history strangled Tunisia , I wonder what that relatively large country holds in store.