SUDAN
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 2,505,810 km2; land area: 2,376,000 km2
Comparative area: slightly more than one quarter the size of US
Land boundaries: 7,697 km total; Central African Republic 1,165 km,
Chad 1,360 km, Egypt 1,273 km, Ethiopia 2,221 km, Kenya 232 km, Libya
383 km, Uganda 435 km, Zaire 628 km
Coastline: 853 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 18 nm;
Continental shelf: 200 m (depth) or to depth of exploitation;
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Disputes: administrative boundary with Kenya does not coincide
with international boundary; administrative boundary with Egypt
does not coincide with international boundary
Climate: tropical in south; arid desert in north; rainy season
(April to October)
Terrain: generally flat, featureless plain; mountains in east and
west
Natural resources: small reserves of crude oil, iron ore,
copper, chromium ore, zinc, tungsten, mica, silver, crude oil
Land use: arable land 5%; permanent crops NEGL%; meadows and
pastures 24%; forest and woodland 20%; other 51%; includes irrigated 1%
Environment: dominated by the Nile and its tributaries; dust
storms; desertification
Note: largest country in Africa
PEOPLE
Population: 27,220,088 (July 1991), growth rate 3.0% (1991)
Birth rate: 44 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 13 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: - 1 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 85 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 52 years male, 54 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 6.4 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun--Sudanese (sing. and pl.); adjective--Sudanese
Ethnic divisions: black 52%, Arab 39%, Beja 6%, foreigners 2%,
other 1%
Religion: Sunni Muslim (in north) 70%, indigenous beliefs 20%,
Christian (mostly in south and Khartoum) 5%
Language: Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects
of Nilotic, Nilo-Hamitic, and Sudanic languages, English; program of
Arabization in process
Literacy: 27% (male 43%, female 12%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1990 est.)
Labor force: 6,500,000; agriculture 80%, industry and commerce 10%,
government 6%; labor shortages for almost all categories of skilled
employment (1983 est.); 52% of population of working age (1985)
Organized labor: trade unions suspended following 30 June 1989
coup; now in process of being legalized anew
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Republic of the Sudan
Type: military; civilian government suspended and martial law
imposed after 30 June 1989 coup
Capital: Khartoum
Administrative divisions: 9 states (wilayat,
singular--wilayat or wilayah*); Aali an Nil,
Al Wusta*, Al Istiwaiyah*, Al Khartum,
Ash Shamaliyah*, Ash Sharqiyah*, Bahr al Ghazal,
Darfur, Kurdufan
Independence: 1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK; formerly
Anglo-Egyptian Sudan)
Constitution: 12 April 1973, suspended following coup of 6 April
1985; interim constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended following coup of
30 June 1989
Legal system: based on English common law and Islamic law;
as of 20 January 1991, the Revolutionary Command Council imposed Islamic
law in the six northern states of Al Wusta, Al Khartum, Ash
Shamaliyah, Ash Sharqiyah, Darfur, and Kurdufan; the
council is still studying criminal provisions under Islamic law; Islamic
law will apply to all residents of the six northern states regardless of
their religion; some separate religious courts; accepts compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction, with reservations
National holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1956)
Executive branch: executive and legislative authority vested in a
13-member Revolutionary Command Council (RCC); chairman of the RCC acts
as prime minister; in July 1989 RCC appointed a predominately civilian
22-member cabinet to function as advisers
Legislative branch: none
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Special Revolutionary Courts
Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government--Revolutionary Command
Council Chairman and Prime Minister Lt. Gen. Umar Hasan Ahmad
al-BASHIR (since 30 June 1989);
Deputy Chairman of the Command Council and Deputy Prime Minister
Maj. Gen. al-Zubayr Muhammad SALIH Ahmed (since 9 July 1989)
Political parties and leaders: none; banned following
30 June 1989 coup
Suffrage: none
Elections: none
Member of: ABEDA, ACP, AfDB, AFESD, AL, AMF, CAEU, CCC, ECA, FAO,
G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IGADD, ILO, IMF, IMO,
INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NAM, OAU, OIC, PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Abdallah Ahmad ABDALLAH;
Chancery at 2210 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone
(202) 338-8565 through 8570; there is a Sudanese Consulate General in New
York;
US--Ambassador James R. CHEEK; Embassy at Shar'ia Ali Abdul Latif,
Khartoum (mailing address is P. O. Box 699, Khartoum, or APO New York
09668); telephone 74700 or 74611
Flag: three equal horizontal bands of red (top), white, and black
with a green isosceles triangle based on the hoist side
ECONOMY
Overview: Sudan, one of the world's poorest countries, is buffeted
by civil war, chronic political instability, adverse weather, and
counterproductive economic policies. The economy is dominated
by governmental entities that account for more than 70% of new
investment. The private sector's main areas of activity are agriculture
and trading, with most private industrial investment predating 1980. The
economy's base is agriculture, which employs 80% of the work force.
Industry mainly processes agricultural items. Sluggish economic
performance over the past decade, attributable largely to declining
annual rainfall, has reduced levels of per capita income and
consumption. A high foreign debt and huge arrearages continue to cause
difficulties. In 1990 the International Monetary Fund took the unusual
step of declaring Sudan noncooperative on account of its nonpayment of
arrearages to the Fund.
GDP: $8.5 billion, per capita $330; real growth rate - 7%
(FY90 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 60% (FY90 est.)
Unemployment rate: NA
Budget: revenues $514 million; expenditures $1.3 billion,
including capital expenditures of $183 million (FY89 est.)
Exports: $465 million (f.o.b., FY90 est.);
commodities--cotton 52%, sesame, gum arabic, peanuts;
partners--Western Europe 46%, Saudi Arabia 14%, Eastern Europe 9%,
Japan 9%, US 3% (FY88)
Imports: $1.0 billion (c.i.f., FY90 est.);
commodities--petroleum products 28%, manufactured goods, machinery
and equipment, medicines and chemicals;
partners--Western Europe 32%, Africa and Asia 15%, US 13%,
Eastern Europe 3% (FY88)
External debt: $12.3 billion (December 1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 0.7% (FY89); accounts for
11% of GDP
Electricity: 606,000 kW capacity; 900 million kWh produced,
37 kWh per capita (1989)
Industries: cotton ginning, textiles, cement, edible oils, sugar,
soap distilling, shoes, petroleum refining
Agriculture: accounts for 35% of GNP and 80% of labor force;
water shortages; two-thirds of land area suitable for raising crops and
livestock; major products--cotton, oilseeds, sorghum, millet, wheat,
gum arabic, sheep; marginally self-sufficient in most foods
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $1.5
billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $4.8 billion; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $3.1 billion;
Communist countries (1970-89), $588 million
Currency: Sudanese pound (plural--pounds);
1 Sudanese pound (LSd) = 100 piasters
Exchange rates: official rate--Sudanese pounds (LSd) per
US$1--4.5004 (fixed rate since 1987), 2.8121 (1987), 2.5000 (1986),
2.2883 (1985); note--commercial exchange rate 12.2 (May 1990)
Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 5,500 km total; 4,784 km 1.067-meter gauge, 716 km
1.6096-meter-gauge plantation line
Highways: 20,000 km total; 1,600 km bituminous treated,
3,700 km gravel, 2,301 km improved earth, 12,399 km unimproved earth
and track
Inland waterways: 5,310 km navigable
Pipelines: refined products, 815 km
Ports: Port Sudan, Suakin
Merchant marine: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 42,277
GRT/59,588 DWT; includes 3 cargo, 2 roll-on/roll-off cargo
Civil air: 14 major transport aircraft
Airports: 78 total, 66 usable; 8 with permanent-surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 4 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
30 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: large, well-equipped system by African
standards, but barely adequate and poorly maintained; consists of
radio relay, cables, radio communications, and troposcatter; domestic
satellite system with 14 stations; 73,400 telephones; stations--4 AM,
1 FM, 2 TV; earth stations--1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT and 1 ARABSAT
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Air Defense Force
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 6,176,917; 3,792,635 fit for
military service; 306,695 reach military age (18) annually
Defense expenditures: $610 million, 7.2% of GDP (1989 est)