A Nation Divided
Arab North, African South, and Contested Middle

Snaking across the savanna, the northern boundary (in red) of southern Sudan marks the frontier of Arabic Islamic culture and the rough front line in a 20-year-old civil war. The army and government militias are fighting a rebel alliance of southerners, Arab northerners who oppose the ruling elite, and non-Arab northerners seeking self-determination. Most battles erupt around the government oil fields.

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