Languages:
Arabic (official), Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic,
Nilo-Hamitic, Sudanic languages, English
note: program of "Arabization" in process
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 61.1%
male: 71.8%
female: 50.5% (2003 est.)
Government Sudan
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of the Sudan
conventional short form: Sudan
local long form: Jumhuriyat as-Sudan
local short form: As-Sudan
former: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Government type:
Government of National Unity (GNU) - the National Congress Party
(NCP) and Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) formed a
power-sharing government under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace
Agreement (CPA); the NCP, which came to power by military coup in
1989, is the majority partner; the agreement stipulates national
elections for the 2008 - 2009 timeframe.
Capital:
name: Khartoum
geographic coordinates: 15 36 N, 32 32 E
time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during
Standard Time)
Administrative divisions:
25 states (wilayat, singular - wilayah); A'ali an Nil (Upper Nile),
Al Bahr al Ahmar (Red Sea), Al Buhayrat (Lakes), Al Jazirah (El
Gezira), Al Khartum (Khartoum), Al Qadarif (Gedaref), Al Wahdah
(Unity), An Nil al Abyad (White Nile), An Nil al Azraq (Blue Nile),
Ash Shamaliyah (Northern), Bahr al Jabal (Bahr al Jabal), Gharb al
Istiwa'iyah (Western Equatoria), Gharb Bahr al Ghazal (Western Bahr
al Ghazal), Gharb Darfur (Western Darfur), Janub Darfur (Southern
Darfur), Janub Kurdufan (Southern Kordofan), Junqali (Jonglei),
Kassala (Kassala), Nahr an Nil (Nile), Shamal Bahr al Ghazal
(Northern Bahr al Ghazal), Shamal Darfur (Northern Darfur), Shamal
Kurdufan (Northern Kordofan), Sharq al Istiwa'iyah (Eastern
Equatoria), Sinnar (Sinnar), Warab (Warab)
Independence:
1 January 1956 (from Egypt and UK)
National holiday:
Independence Day, 1 January (1956)
Constitution:
12 April 1973; suspended following coup of 6 April 1985; interim
constitution of 10 October 1985 suspended following coup of 30 June
1989; new constitution implemented on 30 June 1998 partially
suspended 12 December 1999 by President BASHIR; under the CPA,
Interim National Constitution ratified 5 July 2005; Constitution of
Southern Sudan signed December 2005