Background:
The Southern and Northern Sudanese are distinct ethnic groups and nationalities,
with diametrically opposed social, cultural, linguistics, and religious differences
as well as historical animosities retrospect to the period of the ivory and slave
trade period. The decision during Sudanese Independence from Britain to unify the
North and South contributed to the total betrayal of the African people of South
Sudan that precipitated the ongoing chronic 40-year-old civil war. The Arabized Muslim north has resolutely tried to impose an Islamic state on the non-Arab, non-Muslim peoples of the south, who are resisting with fierce determination. "While the major northern political parties have tried to balance their Islamic agenda with accommodating the non-Muslim south, the ruling National Islamic Front, in contrast, has adopted a more oppressive approach. The front has assumed the mantle of Islamic fundamentalism and declared a holy war, jihad, against the infidels in the south, whom it believes to be supported by the Christian West and Zionist allies. With religious zealotry, the regime has reached out to like-minded radicals--governments, organizations and terrorist movements--for solidarity and mutual support." (Deng, 1998). Sudan's government of the National Islamic Front has been linked by not only by the United States but also by the United Nations, to international terrorists, including Osama bin Laden, Carlos the Jackal, Hamas members and others.
United
States Involvement: The Secretary of State has pressed the United Nations for
tougher economic sanctions against the National Islamic Front (NIF) in the Sudan.
In 1998 the United States bombed a pharmaceutical factory in Northern Sudan saying
that it produced chemicals that can only be used for chemical warfare, although Sudan
insists that it made medicine only. This action actually may have fuelled nationalist
sentiments and bolstered the National Islamic Front regime that desperately needs
national legitimization. It also placed the opposition parties to the National Islamic Front in a difficult position. They could not come out openly in support of an action that insulted national pride. And yet on the other hand they couldn’t align nationalistically with a government they consider illegitimate and against which they have taken up arms.
Deng, Francis M. Sudan: The U.S. action exacerbates the civil war and alienates those resisting Muslim fundamentalism The Los Angeles Times, August 28,1998