Sudan is a poor country, despite its potential resources. Sudan’s economy is basically agricultural, with inadequate infrastructure and ridden by civil wars and social and ethnic conflict. The government is attempting to develop non-petroleum sources of revenues, such as gold mining, while carrying out an austerity programme to reduce expenditures.

Fanack’s Sudan country file provides a comprehensive overview about Sudan, its history, politics, culture, economy and much more.

In recent years, Al-Qalaa has endeavored not only to present herself as an artist whose main job is to sing, but she has also taken initiatives and participated in activities that contribute to public social work. This includes visiting the Sudanese victims of floods and rains in 2015, providing them with aid, performing concerts, the revenues of which went to the victims, and singing a song about them. In 2016, Al-Qalaa organized a campaign to support female tea vendors in the country’s capital, Khartoum, and expressed her sympathy for the “dardaqat” workers [porters], who earn a living by helping buyers in the market to carry their purchases in hand-driven vehicles.

“I started writing from day one. I wanted to clarify the psychology and emotions of someone who has a religious creed. I was very interested in going deep, not just looking at Islam as a cultural or political identity, but as a more essential component. Therefore, faith in my literary works is deeper than identity and more important than gender, nationality, class or race. At the same time, I do not deny or overlook such elements.”

Despite the immense challenges Abdalla Hamdok faces, his appointment can be seen as a turning point in Sudanese politics. He has been unanimously accepted by opposing civilian and military leaders. Furthermore, he does not belong to the traditional Sudanese elite.

Al-Bashir is known for showing no mercy toward his opponents. He ordered summary executions of 28 army officers a few hours after the failed coup attempt in April 1990. His rule has also been marked by the worst forms of abuse against political detainees in ghost houses.

Yet despite this apparent advance in gender equality, the appointment triggered a debate in Sudan about the role and quality of women’s representation in the government of Abdalla Hamdok, a veteran economist who was sworn in as prime minister of the country’s transitional cabinet on 6 September.

Regionally and internationally, the agreement was met with a sigh of relief. Concerns that Sudan might follow in the footsteps of war-torn Libya, Syria and Yemen loomed large as the country entered its eighth month of unrest and sporadic violence without a real government. These concerns were compounded when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, which were all heavily involved in the bloody developments in the other three countries, began to intervene in Sudan overtly and covertly.

Women have emerged as the symbol of the popular protest movement that eventually toppled al-Bashir on 11 April. They inspired young people after facing live ammunition and tear gas, verbal and physical violence, arrest and harassment in prison in a concerted effort to discourage women from joining the protest marches.

Hemedti’s name was associated with the Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, that supported the government of now ousted President Omar al-Bashir. From a small trader, he quickly rose through the military ranks under the command of the notorious Musa Hilal, leader of the Mahamid tribe and wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes.