Khartoum - History
Khartoum is one of three sister cities, built at the convergence of the Blue and White Niles: Omdurman to the north-west across the White Nile, North Khartoum, and Khartoum itself on the southern bank of the Blue Nile.
Khartoum has a relatively short history. It was first established as a military outpost in 1821, and is said to derive its name from the thin spit of land at the convergence of the rivers, which resembles an elephant's trunk (khurtum). Khartoum grew rapidly in prosperity during the boom years of the slave trade, between 1825 and 1880. In 1834 it became the capital of the Sudan, and many explorers from Europe used it as a base for their African expeditions.
Khartoum was sacked twice during the latter half of the 19th century -- once by the Mahdi and once by Kitchener when the Mahdi was ousted. In 1898, Kitchener began to rebuild the city, and designed the streets in the shape of the British flag, the Union Jack, which he hoped would make it easier to defend. On the opposite bank of the Nile, North Khartoum was developed as an industrial area at about the same time.
Today's Khartoum is a quiet, unremarkable city. It has peaceful, tree-lined streets, and in some ways still bears the unmistakable mark of an outpost of the British Empire. Its expansion to accommodate a rapidly-growing population, however, has added very little in terms of charm or atmosphere.
History of Sudan
In 1883 a major crisis arose in the Sudan, the territory south of Egypt under Egyptian control. A Muslim religious leader known as the Mahdi led a popular rebellion against Egyptian rule and foreign influence in the Sudan. The rebellion attracted the attention of the British government, which had become deeply involved in Egypt's affairs by 1880. From 1880 to 1885 the Liberal party under the leadership of Prime Minister William Gladstone was in power in Great Britain. In the mid-19th century Sudan became of interest to the British because of its strategic importance for trade routes to India via the newly-opened Suez Canal and the desire to limit French influence from the west. In the 1880s, the country fell under British and Egyptian control. Local resistance at this time was led by the Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed, a figure revered by his people as both a mystic and a holy warrior. The Mahdi defeated a British-led force of Egyptian troops in 1883 culminating in the death of the British commander, General Gordon, when, after a long siege, the Sudanese took Khartoum.
The
Mahdists retained control of Sudan until the British reconquered the
territory in 1898. An Anglo-Egyptian condominium was established in 1899.
In 1914, Egypt itself was made a British protectorate and Sudan was taken
under British rule accordingly. When the protectorate was dissolved in
1922, the future of Sudan was left open, subject to further negotiations,
but a condominium was restored in 1929. A further Anglo-Egyptian treaty in
1936 allowed Egyptian troops and civilian immigrants to enter Sudan
without restriction. After the Second World War, Sudan became the subject
of serious contention between Britain and Egypt. Efforts to co-opt Sudan
under Egyptian control in 1951 were firmly resisted by the Sudanese.
The overthrow of King Farouk in 1952 brought to power a radical republican government in Egypt, led by Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, which was more sympathetic to Sudanese aspirations of independence. In 1952, Britain and Egypt agreed on a constitution for Sudan allowing free elections and a referendum on independence, which was granted in 1956.
The
Sudanese House of Representatives, elected in November 1953, chose
Abdullah Khalil, leader of the Umma (People's) Party, as premier.
However, Khalil's government lasted less than two years before it was
overthrown by army chief Ibrahim Abboud and his supporters. The Abboud
regime fell in 1964, unseated by unrest throughout the country but
especially in the south. Resenting the political domination of the mainly
Muslim north, the mostly Christian and animist southerners launched an
insurrection against the Khartoum government. In a pattern to be repeated
time and again, the new regime held talks with southern leaders and
offered limited autonomy; the south rejected the terms as inadequate.
Fighting resumed and continued for the next five years. During that time a
general election brought to power a civilian government under Mohammed
Ahmed Mahgoub. In May 1969, Mahgoub was deposed in a military coup in
which Jafaar al-Nimeri became President. Nimeri negotiated a settlement in
1972 with the south. When the settlement collapsed in 1983, it signalled
the beginning of the end for Nimeri himself.
The main cause was the introduction of Islamic Sharia law, intended to placate increasingly troublesome Muslim elements complaining about the austerity programme introduced on the instruction of the IMF earlier in the year. Not surprisingly, it was not well received in the south, and was later withdrawn. Soon afterwards, the southerners returned to fully-fledged armed struggle under the banner of the Sudanese People's Liberation Front (SPLF) and its military arm, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), led by John Garang. Nimeri was deposed by a coup while he visited the USA.
The general election which followed returned Sudan to civilian rule under a coalition government headed by Sadiq al-Mahdi (a descendant of al-Bashir), to power. Their political programme was vague beyond a general commitment to sue for peace with the SPLF. The regime took some time to settle down. Two early coup attempts by dissident army elements were put down by Bashir while negotiations with the SPLA, sponsored by the Organisation for African Unity, broke down. In Khartoum, the political vacuum arising from the army's lack of initiative was filled by the rise of the National Islamic Front (NIF), a fundamentalist organisation led by Sheikh Hassan al-Turabi which has since become the power behind the regime. Its influence became quickly apparent when Sharia was once again introduced at the beginning of 1991. While the NIF provided the Bashir regime's political backbone, the army experienced a change of fortunes in the civil war from the beginning of the 1990s.
The principal cause was the splitting of the SPLA into predominantly tribal-based factions. The 'Torit' faction, mostly Dinka tribespeople, remained loyal to Garang while the breakaway 'Nasir' faction, led by Riek Machar, was mainly drawn from the Nu'er tribe. To compound their difficulties, the overthrow of President Mengistu of Ethiopia deprived the SPLA of one of its principal foreign backers. As the SPLA rebels were broken up and driven out of their southern strongholds towards the Ugandan border, the anti-Khartoum forces were in serious difficulty. However, over the next few years, other factors combined improve in the SPLA's fortunes. The repressive behaviour of the army in areas under its control produced a new stream of recruits. Sudan's active espousal of militant Islam aggravated its already poor relations with several of its neighbours, principally Uganda and Ethiopia, who resumed their logistic support for the reunified rebels. Egypt then joined the support operation when the attempted assassination of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in early 1995 was traced to Sudan. Thoroughly re-armed, the SPLA launched a major offensive against the Government in 1995 and, for the first time since the 1980s, retook areas under the latter's control.