What caused the Sudan civil war?
This war has raged intermittently since 1955, making it possibly the longest civil conflict in the world. It continues unabated. FIRST CIVIL WAR People in southern Sudan, like their countrymen in Darfur, had long resented Arab domination from Khartoum. In 1955, southern troops rebelled against the government. Their complaint was primarily that the government had not created a federal system as promised at independence. Fighting dragged on until 1972, when a peace agreement granted southern Sudan regional autonomy for internal matters. SECOND CIVIL WAR The war flared again in 1983 after then-President Jaafar Nimeri abrogated the peace accord and announced he would turn Sudan into a Muslim Arab state, where Islamic law, or sharia, would prevail, including in the southern provinces. Sharia can include amputation of limbs for theft, public flogging and stoning. The war, fought between the government and several rebel groups, continued for two decades. After years of on-and-off peace talks,
