ABSTRACT
Sudan is geographically the largest country in Africa – about one million square miles – and comprises several hundred ethnic groups. These have generally been clustered into the Arab-Muslim North and the African South, whose people generally adhere to traditional religions but have been converting to Christianity since the advent of British colonialism. To complicate the picture, there are groups in the North who, though Muslims, have retained their indigenous cultures and even practice an indigenized version of Islam. The political and legal history of Sudan plays out against this complex demographic background, turning conflict into a war of identities. This section traces the political and legal history of Sudan since coloniza-
tion, looks at the role of law in shaping the identities that lie behind Sudan’s civil war, and explains what the Comprehensive Peace Agreement envisages for the political and legal future of the country.
