Frequently Asked Questions:
 

1.  Why did the war in Southern Sudan occur?
2.  What is the CPA?
3.  If "peace" has come to the country, why does Sudan still need our help?
4.  What is the genocide in Darfur about?
5.  Was the war in the South religious in nature?
6.  Is the genocide in Darfur religious in nature?
7.  What is the connection between the war in the South and the current genocide in
     Darfur?
8.  Is the idea of helping Darfurians controversial among Southern Sudanese?  Is it
     helpful?  Why?
 

Answer:

1. The war in southern Sudan was about political and religious freedoms in the south. The south went to war    
     with the north in 1983 because the President, Jaafer Mohamed Numeiri, a northerner and a Muslim, had just
     imposed Islamic Laws on the south, along with the rest of the country. The purpose of the laws was to turn
     the Sudan into an Islamic nation, ruled by Islamic laws. The south reacted in combat opposition to the laws.   
     The reaction was not just to resist the imposition of the Islamic laws, but to either bring a total democratic
     revolution to the whole country, or opt for a separate country in the south. The civil war raged for twenty-two
     years until the government, in January 2005, conceded regional autonomy to the south, as well as the right
     to hold a referendum in six years time to decide whether to remain part of the north or opt for independence.
     __Paul Dut Muong
 

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