Sudan fact sheet

Originally published July 22,2001

- Sudan's civil war is the longest uninterrupted civil war in the world. The current conflict has continued for 18 years.

- More than 2 million Sudanese have died of war-related causes.

- The death toll in Sudan since 1983 is larger than the combined fatalities suffered in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Somalia, Sierra Leone and Indonesia. Estimates put the death toll from war-related causes at 300 Sudanese per day.

- Sudan is producing more uprooted people than any other country in the world. An estimated 4 million Sudanese are displaced within their country. An additional 400,000 Sudanese have fled as refugees to neighboring countries.

- Famine killed tens of thousands of Sudanese during 1998.

- Violence and a government blockage of international aid programs triggered a famine two years ago. Pockets of serious malnutrition persist and could worsen.

- Sudanese officials have barred international aid programs from large areas of southern Sudan. Sudanese military planes bombed humanitarian relief and civilian centers hundreds of times.

- Most of southern Sudan's 5 million people have no access to schools or reliable health care. Years of warfare, massive population displacement and government neglect have devastated southern Sudan.

Source: U.S. Committee for Refugees

The Olympian Copyright 2001

back to main New Americans index