Introduction

Abstract

Since its political independence in 1956, Sudan has witnessed the rise of armed ethnic and regional protest movements, which have resulted in great human suffering and the largest number of refugees and displaced peoples in Africa.¹ These protest movements have challenged the independent Sudanese state, led by the Arabized and Islamized elites at the pinnacle of power, to extend and define citizenship rights and responsibilities. This book attempts to examine how unaddressed claims of citizenship contribute to the rise of identity politics and the spread of political violence from Southern Sudan² to the Western region of Darfur. In Darfur, Southern Kordofan, and Blue Nile, these movements are currently demanding equal citizenship rights, but they are also demanding recognition of special rights including claims to land, autonomous government, and the maintenance of ethnonational identities. They are thus opening up a debate about what citizenship entails, particularly in a multicultural context; how the current state reconciles competing claims of citizenship; and what kinds of viable institutional mechanisms are required for an effective relationship between the state, its citizens, and local power structures.