How Colonialism Deepened Tribal and Racial Divisions in Sudan

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The ongoing devastating war between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces has intensified tribal and racial tensions, raising concerns that the conflict could spread throughout the region because of the tribal links between Sudan and neighboring countries. It also threatens to further fragment what remains of the country after the secession of South Sudan.

This study examines how British colonialism contributed to deepening tribal and racial divisions in Sudan and how these divisions became ticking time bombs after independence in 1956.

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During the period of British rule, a broader sense of common national identity emerged, centered above all on opposition to foreign occupation. Resistance initially took tribal forms in the north, south, east, and west, as well as religious forms, before evolving into modern organizations that united people from different tribes on political, social, cultural, sporting, and artistic bases.

Examples include the Sudanese Union Society, the White Flag League, the Graduates’ Congress, and later the political parties that emerged after World War II. Graduates' clubs, workers' clubs, sports and cultural associations, trade unions, and professional organizations also played an important role.

The national movement opposed attempts to divide the country along tribal lines. As expressed in a patriotic poem: “We stand for noble nationalism, not for tribal fanaticism.” Revolutionaries of 1924 refused to identify themselves by tribe during court interrogations and insisted on describing themselves simply as “Sudanese.”

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Agricultural, industrial, and service projects established by the colonial authorities after the abolition of slavery also brought together workers from various regions and tribes. Although these projects were intended primarily to transform Sudan into a large cotton-producing colony, they nevertheless helped foster interaction among different communities.

Urbanization, the expansion of trade, the growth of the commodity-money economy, and modern secular education further strengthened national consciousness. Schools brought together students from different tribes and ethnic groups, while cities such as Khartoum, Atbara, and Port Sudan became melting pots in which diverse communities integrated.

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However, particularly after the 1924 uprising, colonial policies obstructed this natural process of national integration. The British introduced Native Administration based on tribal authority, enacted the Closed Districts Ordinance, implemented a separate language policy in the South following the Rejaf Conference, and restricted education there.

Colonial authorities also deepened divisions between North and South by portraying Arabs alone as slave traders, despite the fact that the slave trade had been a global phenomenon involving northerners, southerners, Egyptians, Europeans, and others.

The colonial administration reinforced uneven development. In Southern Sudan, for example, virtually no significant development projects were undertaken apart from the Zande Scheme, which ceased after the events of 1955. Additional grievances included discriminatory taxation and unequal pay between northern and southern workers performing the same jobs.

These policies left behind “time bombs” that intensified national tensions and uneven development throughout the country.

Despite this, the national movement remained a powerful antidote to colonial divide-and-rule policies. National consciousness dominated the struggle for independence until the withdrawal of foreign troops in 1956.

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After independence, political sovereignty was not accompanied by economic independence or balanced regional development. Successive civilian and military governments continued the colonial model of capitalist development, deepening class inequalities, weakening national sovereignty, entrenching poverty, and perpetuating economic, social, and cultural underdevelopment.

Religious and racial superiority, authoritarianism exercised in the name of religion, and repeated violations of agreements further aggravated tensions.

As a result, the Southern Sudan question, which had first erupted in 1955, exploded again after the collapse of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1983. Regional movements also emerged in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains, and among the Fung communities, while the Beja Congress had already been founded in 1958.

These movements raised legitimate demands, including development, education, healthcare, public services, electricity, water, veterinary services, and recognition of their cultural identities. They represented a healthy political phenomenon that broke the isolation of marginalized regions and brought them into national political life.

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The national question reached a deeper and broader crisis during the rule of the National Salvation regime (Inqaz). The regime intensified class divisions, uneven development, and cultural, linguistic, and religious discrimination, leading to the expansion of armed conflict into western Sudan, eastern Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile.

The regime dismantled modern institutions that had helped unify Sudanese society, including political parties, trade unions, productive enterprises, and national institutions such as prestigious secondary schools, the Gezira Scheme, the railways, river transport, and the Port Authority. Thousands lost their jobs.

At the same time, tribal loyalties were reinforced through administrative divisions based on tribal affiliation. Official government forms once again required citizens to identify their tribe, reversing a practice that Sudanese nationalists had rejected even under British rule.

The regime's policies toward marginalized regions, combined with ethnic, religious, and tribal discrimination, contributed to the rise of armed movements and ultimately to the secession of South Sudan.

The revival of tribalism under current conditions therefore represents a reversal of the historical development that had been unfolding within Sudanese society for centuries. It threatens to fragment the country into competing tribal entities and distracts from the central struggle for independent development, national unity, democracy, and social progress.

The author discusses these issues in greater detail in his books The Historical Roots of Marginalization in Sudan (2006) and Issues of Marginalized Regions in Sudan (2013).