Country of the World Sudan

About the country Sudan, its location, size, population, leaders and rulers.

NATIONS AND THEIR RULER

SUDAN

NITTY-GRITTY

Lay of the Land: Sudan is located in northeast Africa, where the Arab world and black Africa meet. The largest country in Africa, it touches upon the Red Sea and borders eight nations. The Blue Nile and White Nile enter from the south and join at Khartoum to form the Nile. The country is mostly monotonous plain. The northern regions are desert and mountains, the southern provinces forests and swamplands. The Sudd, created by the sluggish White Nile, is the world's largest swamp. The southern provinces are fertile and nearly tropical, but northern Sudan is arid and barren, sustained only by the Nile. Khartoum, the capital, is its only modern urban center.

Size: 967,500 sq. mi. (2,505,805 sq. km.).

Population: 19.1 million.

Who Rules: The president of the Republic of Sudan is the head of state, limited theoretically by an interim constitution and a legislature.

Who REALLY Rules: The president, Lt. Gen. Jaafir al-Numeiry, is in fact the country's absolute ruler. All efforts to spread authority, including attempted coups and invasions instigated by Libya, have been frustrated. Numeiry's unlimited powers were demonstrated in mid-1976, when he rounded up thousands of conspirators who attempted to overthrow him and had most of them executed within several days. However, in 1977, Numeiry's precarious position in Africa, surrounded by hostile nations, prompted him to turn to the U.S. for help.

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