Sudan and South Sudan

The Republic of Sudan gained its independence from Britain on the 1st of January 1956 an event which brought an end to decades of colonial rule by the United Kingdom. But the country that emerged from the end of British rule was a construction of colonialism with deep cultural divisions existing between those in the north and those in the south, the north being culturally Arab and religiously Islamic while the south is primarily black African. As a result, the history of Sudan since its independence has been marked by two long and bloody civil wars and resulted in the break of the countries in 2011. But the secession of South Sudan has far from solved the problem with both nations facing significant political and socioeconomic challenges while South Sudan continues to be plagued by armed rebellion and political corruption. This moving and important volume by Sudan's former culture minister and a leading architect of South Sudan's independence movement provides a factual and personal account of the break-up of Sudan. It lifts the veil on the country's often difficult history, exploring its troubled history post-colonialism, and looks to the future in an attempt to provide solutions for the many challenges that both Sudan and South Sudan will face.