Sudan

Sudan has a long history of internal conflict, under-development and humanitarian crises in the east, south and west of the country. It has been the world’s leading recipient of humanitarian aid since 2005, despite having significant domestic revenues generated since it began exporting oil in 1999.

The conflict between the northern-dominated government and the largely southern-based Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) lasted for 21 years, ending in 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The Republic of South Sudan officially seceded from Sudan in July 2011 after a referendum mandated in the terms of the 2005 peace agreement. In 2011 conflict in the three ‘protocol areas’ of Southern Blue Nile, Abyei and the Nuba Mountains, close to the disputed border with Sudan and the new Republic of South Sudan, reignited, displacing thousands. The Government of Sudan also bombed targets in the oil-producing regions of Unity and Upper Nile states in the Republic of South Sudan in late 2011.

While the peace agreement between the government and the SPLM/A in the south was being negotiated, conflict in Darfur broke out between the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the government and pro-government militias, and rapidly escalated, resulting in a major humanitarian crisis. The majority of the civilian population has been driven from villages by conflict and 1.9 million people now live in camps in Darfur and nearly 300,000 in eastern Chad. Rebel groups and pro-government militias have factionalised and the security situation is now characterised by banditry and criminality. Humanitarian access is severely restricted.

Humanitarian aid is the principal conduit for international assistance to meet the basic needs of the population of Sudan, and in the period 2000–2009 the country received 60.6% of its total official development assistance (ODA) as humanitarian aid.

Tracking funding flows to the different regions and different crises in Sudan is surprisingly difficult. The OECD DAC’s development statistics do not disaggregate by region and individual donors use a variety of different regional groupings, which do not correlate. The data in this profile therefore includes funds for all regions of Sudan, including South Sudan, which has not been reported as a separate recipient country prior to 2011.