Terrorism is a global challenge, especially in third-world countries; it affects the growth and stability of a particular country. Terrorism has rapidly risen in the last decade in countries in the Horn of Africa. Sudan is one of the countries that has been adversely affected by terrorism in the previous three decades. Terrorism activities in Sudan can be traced back to 1989 when Al Bashir started ruling the country after formal relations with Iran. Since then, Sudan has been a country prone to terrorism activities. One of the leading causes of terrorism is political instability; electing good leaders is the key to a futuristic country with zero terrorism activities. Terrorism activities have widely been influenced by the InternetInternet, being a very effective means of communication to recruit, train, encode secret information and fund the activities. The lifting of Sudan from the State Sponsorship Terrorist List will lead the country to grow since it is now eligible for foreign aids ad support from other countries; it will also re-establish trade relations with governments. This will help the country’s economy grow, thus enabling them to clear their debts.
Sudan is a country located in North Africa; it is one of the many countries widely affected by terrorism. Sudan’s location increases the vulnerability to terrorism, and it is a country in Northeast Africa; it borders the countries Central African Republic; Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and the Red Sea. Sudan has proven to be a great supporter of terrorist activities; they allegedly provided weapons and travel documentation for individuals who attacked President Mubarak of Egypt; However, the president survived the attack. Sudan is also known for sheltering notorious terrorists; for example, Osama Bin Laden stayed in the Republic for five good years from 1991-to 1996. He was involved in terrorist attacks on U.S. soldiers in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. They also harbor the terrorist groups in the country: Jihad, The harmed Islamic group, Hamas, Abu Nidal, and the Hizbollah; these groups are held accountable for the hundreds of attacks worldwide and claimed thousands of lives.
The Abu Nidal group is responsible for ninety terrorist attacks in twenty countries that have killed or injured over nine hundred people. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, leader of the terrorist group JihadJihad that attacked The World Trade Centre and had a plan to bomb the U.N. in New York City, was responsible for The Egyptian President Anwar Sadet forty years ago. The assassinations caused eleven deaths, including that of The Presidents. The World Trade Centre attack claimed the lives of six individuals, injured over one thousand people, and caused damage of 600 million dollars in injuries. Sudan supports both international terrorism and national terrorism, and it supports internal terrorist groups in Algeria, Uganda, Tunisia, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. To curb terrorism in Sudan, the country has to find ways to eliminate these terrorist groups.
The citizens of Sudan deserve a peaceful country that is safe to live in without fear of terrorist attacks. To reduce terrorism activities, the government must identify the causes of the activities and work towards the goal. The government has made a history of harboring individual terrorists or terrorist groups for many decades; it is the only sub-Saharan African government on the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism List. However, the government is making amends by moving in a different new direction with peace negotiations with the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). They have shown to improve their relations with the U.S. government. But there seems to be a hindrance with this new direction because the officials that have been very influential in leadership since the 1989 coup thus remain attached to the radical Islamic Agenda. They make it hard for the Republic to cut all its connections with terrorist groups such as Hamas, Jihad, and al-Qaeda. In an attempt to improve their relations with the United States, Khartoum arrested individuals who had contacts with Osama Bin Laden and handed over individuals suspected to be terrorists to cooperate with the United States fully. Khartoum continues to find ways to end terrorism and civil wars in the country. Sudan is closer to peace and finally be free of terrorist organizations.
After Sudan gained independence, The United States established diplomatic relations with Sudan in 1956. The links broke after the start of the Arab –Israeli war in 1967, and then they were re-established in 1972. In 1989 Al Bashir took power with the support of Islamists, thus establishing links with terrorism organizations resulting in the U.S. withdrawing their state sponsorship. Al Bashir ruled Sudan for 30 years until the people began to protest in December 2018, and th people finally overthrew him in April 2019. In December 2019, The United States and Sudan finally agreed.
The U.S. government announced that they would remove Sudan from their terror list in the last year through Twitter. Donald Trump announced that the new government of Sudan had agreed to pay 335 million dollars to the U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, the United States will lift them from the State Sponsors of Terrorism List. They will be able to receive international aid from developed countries. The U.S. declared Sudan a state sponsor of terror when dictator Al Bashir ruled. The United States has assisted South Sudanese people displaced due to conflicts, natural disasters, and terrorism. It also supports Sudan in its new direction of being a terrorist-free country. It also implements policies that will give Sudan and its citizens a better and more reliable future. The United States has supported peace in Sudan, which has helped people in the United States trade and do business with people and companies in Sudan. The United States plays a significant role in Sudan for helping deal with terrorism and therefore is a powerful ally to the government.
To bring stability in Sudan, the government must provide solutions that are both military and political. Removing Sudan from the State-Sponsored Terrorist list has had a substantial positive impact. For example, Sudan will trade freely with other countries, increasing their exports, thus raising their Gross Domestic Product and money being in the flow. They will be able to ease their national debt and loans. Sudan has an external debt of 62$ billion dollars and 3$ billion dollars owed to international financial institutions. Another benefit is that Sudan will access development funding, thus increasing its prowess to respond to humanitarian needs. Post the removal from the list, and the country will get relief from states willing to donate. The United Arab Emirates and Israel have volunteered to help Sudan recover from various crises. India has also offered assistance to Sudan, making way for other countries to have confidence in engaging with Sudan. It will attract Foreign Direct Investment which helps in the country’s development in infrastructure, among others.
Sudan’s economy will have recovered and settled its debts with a well-developed country in the future. From the terrorist activities, it is evident that Sudan has suffered a big deal because of it, and they are hoping that the country will be free of terrorist organizations. The government will prevent further lawsuits from in the United States law courts.
The leading cause of internal terrorism in Sudan is political instability, religion, and sometimes allocation of resources. During the rule of the dictator Al Bashir, anyone who didn’t identify as Muslim was attacked and persecuted, Christian pastors and church workers were imprisoned. However, being Muslim doesn’t mean that you are free from the attacks; only those who accept the government’s way of religion are safe. Attacks to the Muslim Imams who criticized the government w their children sold into slavery or trained into war with the South. The government has militia groups that terrorize their people. The Dinka people, an ethnic group in Sudan, were the primary target; over 500 000 Dinka were slaughtered (Taylor & Elbushra, 2006). The United States will help Sudan forgo the military dictatorship, culture, and society. Despite the state clearly stating that all religions are to be respected, Islam is treated as the de facto state religion. People being converted to Islam is wrong since everyone should have a right to worship. These endless conflicts lead to internal terrorist attacks on Christian communities; until all religions are respected by law and every other citizen in the country, there will be no outer peace.
Religion should not be at any point be a case of terrorist activities since everyone deserves freedom of worship. Everyone should be allowed to worship as they please. Leaders should make sure that such laws are implemented and followed. The problem comes with the person who does not follow the law, and there should be a penalty to punish them. Terrorism has its own adverse effects the government would wish to avoid(Taylor & Elbushra, 2006).
For a government to be prowess with its trade transactions, the government should be politically stable. Sudan gained independence from Britain and Egypt in 1956; actually, it was the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to gain independence. In 1978, oil fields were discovered in the South, and the then-president Gaafar tried to gain control of the oil fields, leading to conflicts. Five years later, President Gaafar declared Sudan an Islamic state. In 1989, Bashir came into power, suspended all political parties, and introduced national-level Islamic law (Mamdani, 194). The rule of Al Bashir is the root of all terrorism activities in Sudan and Islamist ideology. During the Al Bashir reign, he made connections with Iran such that Iran started setting up troops in the country(“South Sudan – Prominent Activist Charged with Terrorism,” 2019). The year that Sudan formalized its relations with Qatar, Al-Turabi invited well-known, notorious terrorist individuals to live in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. One of the terrorists, as stated earlier, was Osama Bin Laden; he received privileges and operated 80 businesses that were tax exempted.
He had a mandate to establish militant training camps and his operation headquarters; however, the government detached itself from involvement with Osama. This way, Osama gained power by being protected by the government; Through the years, Sudan has progressed, and the terrorist attacks traced back to them have reduced. However, there are a few challenges due to the remaining individuals who are not entirely accurate and loyal to their government(Burr & Collins, 2006). The division of Sudan and South Sudan also seems to question whether the countries are ready to negotiate and make peace between them to avoid terrorism activities.
Through the years, the internet has proven to be an effective means of communication(Burr & Collins, 2006). Terrorists have taken the opportunity to use the internet for their selfish purposes; For example, it is a means of recruitment. The internet provides an instrument that can reach thousands of minors prone to recruitment. Tactics used by websites of terrorist organizations can include mixing cartoon shows with messages and videos that promote acts of terrorism(Geoff Barker, 2009). The internet can invite people into joining these terrorist organizations. It may also help the organizations provide funds for these terrorism activities for training; After they have recruited the various individuals and have accepted whatever they are offered, the training begins. The internet can also encode secret language used during terrorist activities. To counterfeit the many ways the terrorists have used the InternetInternet, there could be surveillance of the malicious websites, and awareness can be created to warn people of the websites.
Through research, one of the discoveries that I have made is that most terrorism activities result from political instability, which contributes a lot to terrorism. Poor leadership often leads to political instability; people should choose their leaders wisely. A country must be politically stable, preventing many terrorist attacks and other national problems. Another discovery is that Sudan as a nation has made amends, and they are ready to end terrorism in their country, and they are looking forward to a terrorist-free country (Geoff Barker, 2009). Last but not least is that terrorism affects all aspects of a nation; trade, relations with other countries, and developments. Sudan’s government should work towards reviving their trade and relations with other countries and avoiding possible causes of terrorism.
References
Burr, M., & Collins, R. O. (2006). Alms for JihadJihad: charity and terrorism in the Islamic world. Cambridge University Press.
Geoff Barker. (2009). Sudan. Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
South Sudan – Prominent Activist Charged with Terrorism. (2019). Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series, 56(3), 22237B22237B. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-825x.2019.08791.x
Taylor, M., & Elbushra, M. E. (2006). Research Note: Hassan al-Turabi, Osama bin Laden, and Al Qaeda in Sudan. Terrorism and Political Violence, 18(3), 449–464. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550600752022
Voller, Y. (2021). Militias as a Tool for Encouraging Ethnic Defection: Evidence from Iraq and Sudan. Terrorism and Political Violence, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2020.1863793
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