Sudan, Beyond Darfur

While the conflict and bloodshed in Sudan’s Darfur region have received much attention from the international press and human rights groups, other conflicts in the country — in the north, the south and in the central Nuba Mountains — have largely remained outside the spotlight. Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show will explore tensions in South Sudan, the site of a two-decade civil war between the Muslim north and mostly Christian south that killed more than 1.5 million people. The south is also home to 80 percent of Sudan’s oil. The war came to an end in 2005 with the signing of a peace agreement that exempted the south from Islamic Sharia law and established a regional southern government as well as a system of shared oil revenues. But with increasingly deadly tribal violence in South Sudan and a humanitarian crisis that could soon eclipse that in Darfur, trouble is brewing once more. In a conference on Sudan in Washington this week, leaders from the north and south pledged to avoid a return to war. South Sudan is set for a referendum on independence in 2011 and many in the region hope that the vote will allow a break from Khartoum once and for all, creating a new African nation. Others remain wary, pointing to corruption and incompetence on the part of South Sudan’s government and accusing leaders of squandering oil revenues. Our online radio show on Tuesday, June 30 at 6:30 p.m. EDT will explore the roots of conflict in South Sudan and the movement for secession, looking at the dire conditions in the south and connections between other conflicts in the country.