Heart of Darfur ~ History of Sudan | Wide Angle

July 1st, 2008

Heart of Darfur

History of Sudan


1820	Sudan is conquered by Ottoman Egypt.
1882	Great Britain invades.
1899	Sudan comes under the joint rule of Great Britain and Egypt.
1956	Sudan becomes independent. The new government, based in Khartoum, is dominated by Arabs from the north of the country.
1962	Civil war breaks out between the Khartoum government and separatists from the south, who are mostly Christian or animist.
1972	Under the Addis Ababa peace agreement, the south gains autonomy on internal matters. A rare period of peace ensues for the next 11 years.
1978	Chevron discovers oil in southern Sudan.
1983	Civil war between north and south breaks out again, and continues for the next two decades. Nearly 2 million people are killed.
1989	The National Islamic Front takes control of the country in a military coup.
1991	Osama bin Laden moves to Sudan where he lives for the next four years.
1993	Omar al-Bashir, who first came to power in the coup staged by the National Islamic Front, is appointed president.
1997	The U.S. imposes economic sanctions on Sudan, which it considers a state sponsor of terrorism.
1998	In response to the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, the U.S. launches missile attacks on a Khartoum chemical plant suspected of producing chemical weapons.
1999	Sudan begins exporting oil.
2003	Rebel groups rise up in Darfur, angered by neglect from the central government in Khartoum.
2003	Janjaweed militias begin a “scorched earth” campaign in Darfur. Riding in on horseback, they loot shops, rape women, and set entire villages aflame.
2003-2004	Hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur flood into Chad.
2004	The U.S. declares the situation in Darfur a “genocide;” the United Nations calls it “crimes against humanity” and “war crimes.
June 2004	The first African Union peacekeepers arrive in Darfur.
January 2005	The U.N.-brokered Comprehensive Peace Agreement ends the civil war between north and south, and establishes a unity government formed by the central government in Khartoum and southern rebel groups.
March 2005	The U.N. Security Council votes to send people suspected of committing war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
April 2006	Chad breaks ties with Sudan due to evidence that the Sudanese government is supporting rebel factions within Chad.
May 2006	The Darfur Peace Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and the main faction of the Sudan Liberation Army; a rival faction and a smaller rebel group called the Justice and Equality Movement reject the deal. The violence continues.
March 31, 2007	At least 65 people are killed and 8,000 driven from their homes when Sudanese janjaweed militia launch a cross-border raid in eastern Chad.
April 2, 2007	Five African Union peacekeepers are killed in the deadliest attack on African Union forces since they arrived in the region in 2004. The African Union says it needs help from the U.N.
May 29, 2007	U.S. President George W. Bush imposes new sanctions on Sudan and asks for an international arms embargo to end the “genocide.”
August 1, 2007	A U.N. Security Council resolution authorizes a joint U.N./African Union force of over 26,000 troops, and the Sudanese government agrees, provided that the troops are predominantly African. General Martin Luther Agwai is appointed as the force’s commander.
January 1, 2008	UNAMID, the joint U.N./African Union peacekeeping force, officially takes over for the African Union force.
2006-2007	Despite the crisis in Darfur and continuing tension between north and south, the Sudanese economy is booming, due mostly to oil wealth.
2008	In the lead up to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China’s economic and diplomatic ties with Sudan are in the international spotlight. Activists dub the games the Genocide Olympics.
February 19, 2008	U.S. President George W. Bush criticizes the slowness of the U.N. deployment.
April 2008	U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes says as many as 300,000 people may have died in five years of conflict in Darfur.
May 15, 2008	Clashes in the oil town of Abyei lead to fears of a new outbreak of civil war between north and south.
May 10, 2008	Rebels from Darfur nearly reach Khartoum, attacking in Omdurman, the capital’s twin city.
May 28, 2008	John Kennedy Okecha, a Ugandan police officer, becomes the first U.N. peacekeeper to be killed in Darfur.

Tags: Darfur, Khartoum, oil, Olympics, rebels, Sudan, timeline, UNAMID, United Nations

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