Sudan
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Sudan can be reached from Italy mainly by air, with mandatory stopovers at intermediate hubs in the Middle East (Dubai, Doha, Cairo, Addis Ababa) or East Africa, as there are no direct flights from Italy. Khartoum International Airport (KRT) is the country's main airport; Port Sudan Airport (PZU) serves access to the Red Sea coast. Due to the ongoing civil war since 2023 (conflict between the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces), Khartoum Airport has suffered significant damage and air operations are severely restricted at the time of writing. The internal communications situation is severely affected by the ongoing conflict, which has heavily affected Khartoum, Darfur, Kordofan and other regions. Land access routes to Sudan are via Egypt (north), Ethiopia (east), South Sudan (south) and Chad (west); the internal road network depends on the evolution of the conflict. Under normal conditions, the main road network connects Khartoum with the main cities in the north and east; the railway network operated by the Sudan Railways Corporation (SRC) has declined significantly over the decades.
Introduction
Sudan stretches across the north-eastern part of the African continent, between the Sahara to the north and the savannahs of the Sahel to the south. It is the third largest country in Africa and is crossed from north to south by the Nile, which divides the territory into two halves. The territory is predominantly flat, with the exception of the volcanic Jebel Marra massif in western Darfur (highest point: Deriba Caldera, 3,042m) and the Red Sea hills in the east. The country borders Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic and Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. Sudan has had a turbulent history that led in 2011 to the secession of South Sudan - a separation born out of the Naivasha Accords of 2005 - and in 2023 to the outbreak of a civil war between factions of the regular army. Sudan has a plural ethnic and cultural composition, with Arab, Nubian, Fur, Beja and numerous other groups.
Description
The morphology of Sudan is dominated by plains: the vast alluvial plain between the two Niles (Blue Nile and White Nile) occupies the heart of the country around Khartoum, the capital, where the two branches converge. To the north lie the areas of the Sudanese Sahara and Nubia, with ancient settlements along the Nile (Meroe, Naqada, Kerma) and the Bayuda Desert. The Blue Nile River has its source in the lakes of the Ethiopian plateau, while the White Nile has its sources in the African Great Lakes; together with the White Nile they form the Great Nile in Sudan before entering Egypt. The Jebel Marra massif in Darfur is the main mountain system, with the dormant volcano of the Deriba Caldera (3,042m) as its high point; in the caldera are two salt lakes of volcanic origin. The Red Sea hills in the east of the country approach the coast with elevations exceeding 2,000m.
The history of Sudan is among the most stratified on the African continent. The territory was home to one of the earliest civilisations of the Nile: the kingdom of Kush (with capitals Kerma, Napata and Meroe) was for centuries in a relationship - of competition and cultural integration - with Pharaonic Egypt, coming to dominate it during the 25th dynasty (Black Pharaohs, 8th - 7th century BC). The city of Meroe, with its Nubian pyramids, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2011. The mediaeval Islamic conquest and the subsequent Islamisation of the north of the country culturally separated the populations of the north from those of the south. The Turkish-Egyptian Sudan (1820-1881), the Mahdist uprising (1881-1898) with the figure of Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, the Anglo-Egyptian condominium (1899-1956) and the difficult independence of 1956 mark the stages of the modern era. The long North-South civil war (1955-1972 and 1983-2005) ended with the 2011 referendum that led to the birth of South Sudan. In 2019, dictator Omar al-Bashir was deposed by a popular revolution; in 2023, conflict between the army and paramilitaries of the Rapid Support Forces devastated the country.
The Sudanese economy was based before 2011 largely on oil, much of whose production has remained in South Sudan since secession. The main resources of present-day Sudan are gold (the country is one of Africa's largest producers), irrigated agriculture along the Nile (cotton, peanuts, sesame, sorghum), nomadic pastoralism in the Sahel and the resources of the Red Sea. The civil war has led to an economic and humanitarian crisis of severe proportions.
Protected areas in Sudan include the Dinder Biosphere Reserve in eastern Sudan on the border with Ethiopia, and the Sanganeb National Park in the Red Sea, the first marine protected area in East Africa inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016 along with Dungonab Bay. The UNESCO cultural heritage includes Meroe with its Nubian pyramids (inscribed in 2011), the sites of Jabal Barkal and Napata, the pyramids of Nuri, the prehistoric settlements of Kerma and the sites of the ancient Kush.
In conditions of political stability, hiking in Sudan is concentrated in the areas of the Jebel Marra massif in Darfur, with trails to the Deriba Caldera and its volcanic lakes, and in the Red Sea areas, where trails in the coastal hills offer views of the reef. However, the instability in Darfur - the scene of conflict since 2003 - and the ongoing civil war make these areas inaccessible. Under safe conditions, the Nubian archaeological sites in the north (Meroe, Nuri, El Kurru, Kerma) can be visited on horseback or on foot.
There is no developed mountaineering tradition in Sudan. The Deriba Caldera (3,042m), the highest point in the country, is located in a region of conflict; conditions for mountaineering are not currently assessable.
There are no trail running events of international significance in Sudan. The unstable political situation has prevented the development of organised sports activities in the country.
Information
General Data
Capital: Khartoum
Area: 1,861,484 km²
Minimum elevation: 0m (Red Sea, coastline)
Maximum elevation: 3.042m - Deriba Caldera (Jebel Marra) [to be verified slug]
Number of inhabitants: 46,900.000 (estimated 2024)
Official name: جمهورية السودان (Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān)
Name of inhabitants: Sudanese
Main administrative subdivisions: 18 states
Border countries: Ciad - Egypt - Eritrea - Ethiopia - Libya - Central African Republic - Sudan of the South
Institutional website: https://www.sudaress.com