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Sudan
CIVIL WARFARE IN THE SOUTH
Except for a period of tenuous peace between 1972 and 1983, Sudan
has been the scene of armed rebellion in the south since before
the nation became independent in 1956. The second stage of the
Sudanese civil war entered its ninth year in 1991. The protracted
struggle pitting the mostly Muslim north against the adherenys
of indigenous faiths and of Christianity in the south has resulted
in hundreds of thousands of deaths--mostly noncombatants--and
has forced millions to flee the south in search of food and to
escape the violence. The rebel forces controlled most of the rural
areas of the south as of mid-1991, besieging the government troops
holding the major towns. Both sides were guilty of violence against
civilians, but the government's policy since 1985 of arming undisciplined
tribal militia bands was responsible for the most flagrant cruelties.
Data as of June 1991
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