Sudan's tragic modern history begins with its colonial past. The British colonial masters created a time bomb for regional and religious conflict in 1922 by restricting the movement of Northerners south of the 10th parallel and of Southerners above it, effectively splitting the country in two. This artificial division would haunt Sudan for generations.

When the British left in 1956, they left a Democratic elected government and a strong Civil Service, but did very little in the South. Out of 800 Civil Service posts vacated by the British, just four were given to Southerners. This inequality planted seeds of resentment that would erupt into violence.

Even before independence, trouble between North and South started in August 1955 when a company of Southern soldiers refused orders from their Northern officer, who then shot one of them as a warning. This initial violence spiraled as soldiers broke into the armed store, took weapons, and began killing their Northern commanders and any Northern Sudanese they could find.

Within just two years of Independence, in 1958, the new government faced a vote of no confidence in Parliament, and the prime minister invited General Ibrahim Abboud to take over power. Thus began a destructive cycle of short bursts of democracy followed by military dictatorships that continues today.

The Religious and Cultural Divide

Under British rule, Christian missionaries flocked to the South, and the British were trying to get rid of Islamic influences there, wanting South Sudanese to be converted to Christianity. This created a fundamental religious split, with Islam developing in the North and Christianity spreading in the South, turning Sudan into a battleground between the world's two biggest religions.

The slave trade left a dark legacy, with an association in Northern culture between Blackness and slavery. Southern Sudanese refugees in Khartoum's slums reported being commonly insulted with the word "Abid" (slave), reflecting deep-seated racism that would fuel future conflicts.