Project

Sudan: The Forgotten North

Northern Sudan is a region that has largely been ignored, eclipsed by rebellion in Darfur and a civil war in the south that lasted two decades. But in villages along the Nile in the Nubian desert, far from the conflicts in other parts of the country, Sudanese people are living their own struggles.

Many of these villages have no electricity, no clean water, little infrastructure but run-down schools and empty health clinics. Newly-wed men leave their wives at home to travel abroad, earning money to support their families. Many women are left to raise their children alone. "WE are the muhamisheen," or the neglected, many northerners have said. The conflict in Darfur is far away and irrelevant here.

The Africans and Arabs are both Muslim, and the distinction between their racial heritage means little. They live together peacefully, sending their children to the same schools, operating businesses together and inter-marrying. The northern Arabs say their race has not earned them any points with the Arab-dominated government; they say they are neglected all the same. Heba Aly travels to the northern communities of Sudan to explore what the realities of life there say about race and about the real root of problems in Sudan.

A People Neglected - Again

In Sudan, we've heard this story before. Marginalization of the country's peripheries has led to armed rebellions in the south, the west (Darfur), and the east of the country. Many believe the north could be next.

Northern Sudan – while mostly Arab, like the government – has gained little from Khartoum. The government now makes billions of dollars in oil revenue annually, but many northerners still live without clean drinking water, electricity, proper education or health care.

Expelled from Sudan

In 2005, a historic peace agreement ended more than two decades of civil war between north and south Sudan. It was Africa's longest civil war, killing some two million people, sending four million others fleeing and literally burning southern Sudan to the ground.

The long-awaited peace came with a vision for a new Sudan. A democratic Sudan. One where the Sudanese people would live with rights and freedoms, enshrined in a new constitution.

Coexistence in Northern Sudan

Sudan has become synonymous with war, due to the five-year conflict raging in Darfur. The UN estimates that 300,000 people have died and close to 2.5 million others have been displaced. The vast majority have been indigenous Africans.

Darfur's war is often portrayed as a racial one, pitting Arabs against Africans. But in northern parts of the country, many Sudanese are defying stereotypes. Heba Aly files this report from Dongola, a town in northern Sudan where Africans and Arabs have been living together harmoniously for decades.