the Republic of the Sudan

REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN

General information: The Republic of the Sudan is an African state bordering on Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan (Republic of the South Sudan), the Central African Republic, Chad and Libya.

Area: 1.89 million square kilometres.

Population: About 40 million (July 1, 2015 UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimate; 30.9 million, according to the latest, 2008, census). Sunni Muslims make up 96.7 percent. Christians and people adhering to traditional religions account for 3 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.

Capital: Khartoum (population, up to 8 million with the suburbs). Other major cities: Nyala (532,000), Port Sudan (474,000), Kassala (419,000) and Al-Ubayyid (411,000).

Political system: Federation of 18 states.

President: Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir who retained his position after the April 2015 general presidential elections is the supreme state leader since 1989. First Vice President: Bakri Hassan Saleh who was also appointed Prime Minister by the March 1, 2017 Executive Order of the President of Sudan. Foreign Minister: Ibrahim Ghandour. Defence Minister: Awad Mohammed Ahmed Ibn Auf (security and law enforcement agencies play the most important role in the Government).  Ibrahim Ahmed Omer heads the National Assembly (Parliament).

The country has 83 officially registered political parties. Main parties: the National Congress, the leading party, headed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_al-Bashir" title="Omar al-Bashir">Omar al-Bashir, the Umma Party headed by Mubarak al Fadil al Mahdi, the Democratic Unionist Party headed by Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, the Popular Congress Party headed by Acting Deputy Secretary General Ibrahim al-Sanousi, the Communist Party of Sudan headed by Muhammad Mukhtar Al-Khatib and the Reform Now Movement headed by Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani who also leads the opposition alliance Forces of Future Changes consisting of 41 parties and organisations. This party split from the National Congress in 2013.

Religion: Sunni Islam.

Official languages: Arabic and English.

National flag: Horizontal red, white and black stripes and a green triangle with its base on the flagpole.

National emblem: Image of the secretary bird.

National anthem: Arabic song “We are the soldiers of God, we are the soldiers of our Homeland.”

National holidays: January 1: Independence Day (1956), Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (12^th day of the Rabi' al-Awwal month), the Feast of Sacrifice (tenth day of the Dhu'l-Hijja month), Corban Bairam Holiday (for three days after the end of fasting during the holy month of Ramadan) and the Muslim New Year. The country’s authorities declare these days, as well as several more days before or after, to be bank holidays.

Currency: Sudanese pound. As of September 2017, $1 costs 6.7 Sudanese pounds, with the “black market” rate being 17.6 Sudanese pounds for the dollar.

History: The current regime has ruled the country since 1989. In 2005, the Government and representatives of the southern insurgent group, the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan_Liberation_Movement/Army" title="Sudan Liberation Movement/Army">Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A), signed the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naivasha_Agreement" title="Naivasha Agreement">Nairobi Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the 20-year-plus civil war in southern Sudan. The Interim National Constitution of the Republic of the Sudan that was passed in 2005 remains effective to this day. Due to the country’s partition, a new fundamental law has been drafted since 2011.

Parliament: The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, has 450 deputies, with women accounting for 25 percent. The National Congress Party has the majority of seats (317). The Council of States, the upper house of parliament, has 36 deputies or two representatives from each state of the country.

Socioeconomic situation and foreign trade: The Republic of the Sudan ranks among the poorest countries in terms of its economic development.

In 2016, the nominal GDP totaled $94.1 billion, with the 2015 nominal GDP being 81.4 billion. The per-capita 2016 GDP, in terms of the purchasing power parity, was $4,500 ($4,050 in 2015). According to official statistics, average annual inflation is 14 percent (35.6 percent in 2012). Real inflation levels are much higher. The country’s international (gold and hard currency reserves) total $167 million.

In 2016, Sudanese exports totaled $3.7 billion, with the country’s 2015 exports being $3.1 billion. Its 2016 and 2015 imports stood at $9.3 billion and $8.3 billion, respectively. China, India, Malaysia, Persian Gulf countries (the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Ethiopia and Egypt are Sudan’s main foreign partners. Sudan exports gold, copper, crude oil and its products, leather, live cattle, sesame seeds, cotton, sugar, Arabic gum (80 percent of its global output), peanuts, Sudanese roses (hibiscus), sunflower seeds, fruit and vegetables. The country imports food and manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, medication, textiles, grain, chemicals, rubber, paper and fertiliser.

Oil production, agriculture and gold output make up for about 70 percent of state budget revenues. The agriculture sector employs about 80 percent of the population, and other economic sectors remain underdeveloped.

The economy is burdened by foreign debt servicing payments. In late 2016, Sudan’s foreign debt totaled nearly $52.6 billion. Debt-servicing payments alone account for about 80 percent of the total debt sum. About 20 percent of the country’s population lives below the poverty line.

The unfavourable national economic situation is aggravated by US economic sanctions that were imposed in 1997.

Domestic policy: The unfinished intra-Sudanese peace settlement and failure to complete the Darfur peace process are the main factors determining the domestic political situation in Sudan.

Opposition movements continue to fight the regime in Darfur, and inter-tribal rivalry caused by a struggle for resources (water, pastures, gold deposits, etc.) still persists. Between April 11-13, 2016, the country held a referendum on the region’s administrative division, with 98 percent of voters advocating the preservation of the current form of its administrative division in the form of five independent states.

The UN and the African Union operate their UNAMID joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur. This mission involves 16,000 and is the second-largest in history after the one in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A complicated humanitarian situation persists in southern Sudan, including its zone bordering on the Republic of the South Sudan. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 3.2 million displaced persons were registered all over Sudan in late 2016, including 2.66 million in Darfur. There are also 365,000 refugees, including 247,000 from the Republic of the South Sudan and about 100,000 Syrians.

The final status of the Abyei Area remains unresolved, with Sudan and South Sudan claiming the right to own it. On June 20, 2011, the Government of Sudan and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudan_Liberation_Movement/Army" title="Sudan Liberation Movement/Army">Sudan Liberation Movement/Army (SLM/A) signed an Agreement on Temporary Arrangements for the Administration and Security of the Abyei Area in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Under the agreement, the area is subject to demilitarisation, with the Interim Security Force for Abyei (ISFA), being deployed in the Abyei Area under a UN mandate, and police units consisting of residents of local communities maintaining security there. On June 27, 2011, the UN Security Council passed its Resolution 1990 that stipulated the ISFA’s strength at 4,200 officers and soldiers and 50 police officers. They were stationed in the Abyei Area for a period of six months. On November 15, 2016, their mandate was extended for another six months.   

On October 10, 2015, delegates of a conference on national dialogue regarding prospects for the future development of Sudan began their work. The conference aimed to merge all of the country’s political and social forces on a common platform. An official ceremony ending the national dialogue took place on October 10, 2016.

Foreign policy: Sudan adheres to a nationalist, pro-Islamic and pro-Arab foreign policy line, strives to invigorate cooperation with agencies of the UN family, to expand cooperation with the Arab League, the African Union and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. As of late, the country has strengthened its relations with the Gulf countries.

The country’s foreign policy mostly aims to finalise the peace settlement with South Sudan under the existing international law framework, primarily the package of the 2012 Addis Ababa agreements. The military conflict in the Republic of the South Sudan that has been continuing since late 2013 hampers the settlement process.

Sudan maintains sufficiently active ties with neighbouring countries, including Chad, Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia. Beijing, one of Khartoum’s main foreign political partners, has contributed over $6 billion worth of investment. Relations with the United States and EU countries remain complicated.

Khartoum considers a US decision on possibly lifting unilateral anti-Sudan economic sanctions from July 12, 2017 to be a breakthrough in Sudanese-US relations. The United States introduced these sanctions in 1997, with the Trump administration extending them for three months.

In January 2016, the country severed diplomatic relations with Iran as a sign of solidarity with Saudi Arabia after its diplomatic mission was attacked by protesters in Tehran. 

Armed forces: 100,000 officers and soldiers (largest in the region). They include the Army, the Air Defence Force, the Navy, plus special forces and a rapid deployment force. Paramilitary forces include Internal Affairs Defence Force (70,000 officers and soldiers) and a 20,000-strong National Guard.

Research and education: Three-stage school system with 12-year curricula, as well as about 40 universities.

Culture: Extremely diverse and largely influenced by Islamic, Arab and African cultures. There are 578 ethnic-cultural groups.

Media: Official information agencies: Sudan News Agency (SUNA) and the Sudanese Media Centre (SMC), 20 regional television channels and six local channels, 16 state and 14 private radio stations, 50 different printed media outlets. Around 12 percent of the population has free access to the Internet.

Russian-Sudanese relations: The Soviet Union and Sudan established diplomatic relations on January 5, 1956. In the 1960s, both countries signed a number of long-term agreements that helped successfully expand their bilateral ties. The volume of Soviet-Sudanese relations contracted throughout the 1970s during Gaafar Nimeiry’s rule.

On December 29, 1991, Sudan officially recognised the Russian Federation as the Soviet Union’s legal successor.

Current Russian-Sudanese relations hinge on the 1998 inter-governmental agreement on trade, economic and technological cooperation and the 2003 inter-governmental agreement on military-technical cooperation.

The countries maintain regular high-level dialogue. On December 3, 2014, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a working visit to Khartoum where he had a meeting with President of Sudan Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir and held talks with Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti. On September 10, 2015 and February 26, 2016, Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour visited Moscow. On October 19, 2015, Second Sudanese Vice President https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassabu_Mohamed_Abdalrahman" title="Hassabu Mohamed Abdalrahman">Hassabu Mohamed Abdalrahman also came to Moscow and held talks with Sergey Lavrov.

On September 24, 2013, both sides signed an agreement in Khartoum on establishing the Russian-Sudanese Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation. Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Sergey Donskoi chairs the Commission’s Russian section and Sudan’s Minister of Minerals Hashim Ali Salim chairs its Sudanese section. The Commission’s members held their first meeting between December 16-19, 2013 in Khartoum. Moscow hosted its second meeting between December 10-12, 2014. Khartoum hosted the third meeting between December 19-22, 2015 and the fourth meeting took place between December 5-7, 2016 in Moscow.

In 2016, trade turnover between Russia and the Republic of the Sudan totaled $231.4 million, with the respective 2015 and 2014 volumes being $139 million and $296 million. Russian exports to Sudan totaled $231.1 million and included mainly agricultural products: 860,000 tonnes of wheat worth $147.8 million, 35,500 tonnes of vegetable oil worth $27.4 million, as well as $43.9 million worth of machinery and equipment, including gold-mining equipment. Russia also exported 7,600 tonnes of petroleum worth $1.3 million. It imported $300,000 worth of Carcade (hibiscus) tea, cotton, peanuts and sesame seeds from Sudan.

In May 2016, Khartoum hosted the first session of the Mixed Russian-Sudanese Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation.

The status of compatriots: According to the Russian Embassy in Khartoum, about 590 Russian citizens, including 115 permanent residents, are currently staying in Sudan.

No cases of infringing upon Russian compatriots’ political and civil rights and their discrimination have been recorded. On the whole, the socioeconomic situation of Russian citizens permanently residing in Sudan remains satisfactory.

The Russian Language Faculty at the University of Khartoum is the main centre of Russian language studies in Sudan. In December 2014, the Pushkin Russian Language Room was opened at the Faculty. There is no Russian cultural centre, as well as Russian-language schools and media outlets in Sudan.