First Sudanese Civil War

First Sudanese Civil War
Part of the Sudanese Civil Wars and the South Sudanese wars of independence

Sudan (red) before 2011; the first civil war took place in the country's south
Date18 August 1955 – 27 March 1972[15]
(16 years, 7 months, 1 week and 2 days)
Location
Southern Sudan
Result

Stalemate[16]

Belligerents
United KingdomEgypt Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
(1955–1956)
Sudan Republic of the Sudan
(1956–1969)
SudanSudan Democratic Republic of the Sudan
(1969–1972)
Combat support:
 Uganda
(Joint operations on Ugandan territory, 1965–1969)[1]
Libya Libyan Arab Republic
(From 1969 and combat involvement at least in 1970)[2]
Non-combat support:
 United Arab Republic[2][3]
 Soviet Union[4][3]
 United Kingdom[3][5]
 China[3][5]
 Yugoslavia[3][5]
 East Germany[3][5]
 Czechoslovakia[5]
 Saudi Arabia[5]
Libya Kingdom of Libya (until 1969)[5]
 Algeria[5]
 United States[6]
 West Germany[6]		 SDF mutineers, bandits, and unaffiliated separatist militias
ALF (1965–1970)
Anyanya (from 1963)[7]
 Israel (from 1969)[8][9][10]
Supported by:
 Ethiopia[11][12]
 Uganda (from about 1970)[11][9]
Democratic Republic of the Congo Congo-Léopoldville[13]
 Kenya[11]
 France[14]
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Knox Helm
Sudan Ismail al-Azhari
Sudan Gaafar Nimeiry		 Joseph Lagu
Gordon Muortat Mayen
Israel David Ben-Uziel[17]
Strength
Sudanese Armed Forces:
6,000–7,000 (1955)[18]
36,000 (late 1971)[19]		 Anyanya:
6,000–12,000[20]
c. 18,000 (late 1960s)[11]
Casualties and losses
500,000[21]–1 million[22] killed including 100,000+ combatants[23]

The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom')[24] was fought from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the southern Sudan region which demanded representation and more regional autonomy. The war was divided into four major stages: initial guerrilla warfare, the creation of the Anyanya insurgency, political strife within the government, and establishment of the South Sudan Liberation Movement. Around a million people died over the course of the nearly 17-year long war.

Although the Addis Ababa Agreement ended the war in 1972, it failed to completely dispel the tensions and addressed only some of the issues stated by southern Sudan. The breakdown of the initial appeasement later led to a reigniting of the north–south conflict during the Second Sudanese Civil War, which lasted from 1983 to 2005.

  1. ^ Poggo (2009), p. 151.
  2. ^ a b Poggo (2009), p. 166.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Poggo (2009), p. 1.
  4. ^ OBallance 1977, p. 119-120.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Poggo (2009), p. 155.
  6. ^ a b Poggo (2009), p. 165.
  7. ^ Martell (2018), p. 72.
  8. ^ Martell (2018), pp. 79–82.
  9. ^ a b Johnson, Douglas (2011). The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars: Peace Or Truce. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1847010292.
  10. ^ Leach, Justin (2012). War and Politics in Sudan: Cultural Identities and the Challenges of the Peace Process. I.B.Tauris. p. 178. ISBN 978-1780762272.
  11. ^ a b c d Martell (2018), p. 89.
  12. ^ Acig.org. "Sudan, Civil War since 1955".
  13. ^ Poggo (2009), p. 158.
  14. ^ Poggo (2009), p. 163.
  15. ^ OBallance 1977, p. 143-44.
  16. ^ Shinn, David H, "Addis Ababa Agreement: was it destined to fail and are there lessons for the Current Sudan Peace Process?", p. 242
  17. ^ Martell (2018), pp. 80–81.
  18. ^ Sudanese MOD website, http://www.mod.sd[permanent dead link‍], via Wayback Machine.
  19. ^ OBallance 1977, p. 119.
  20. ^ Matthew LeRiche, "Sudan, 1972-1983," in "New Armies from Old: Merging Competing Military Forces After Civil Wars," ed Licklider, 2014, 34.
  21. ^ De re Militari: muertos en Guerras, Dictaduras y Genocidios. Capítulo I.
  22. ^ Martell (2018), p. 14.
  23. ^ Matthew LeRiche, Matthew Arnold. South Sudan: from revolution to independence. 2012. Columbia University Press. New York. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-231-70414-4
  24. ^ Matthew LeRiche, Matthew Arnold. South Sudan: from revolution to independence. 2012. Columbia University Press. New York. p. 16. ISBN 978-0-231-70414-4