The Republic of the Sudan Jamhuryat Es-Sudan Constitution and Government
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1444 THE SUDAN THE REPUBLIC OF THE SUDAN JAMHURYAT ES-SUDAN CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT. The Sudan was proelaimed a sovereign independent republic on 1 Jan.. 1956. On 19 Dee. 1955 the Sudanese parliament passed unanimously a declaration tbat a fully inde· pendent state sbould be set up fortbwitb, and tbat a Couneil of State of 5 sbould temporarily assume tbe duties of Read of State. The Co-domini, tbe UK and Egypt, gave their assent on 31 Dee. 1955. For tbe history of tbe Condominium and the steps leading to independence, see 'l'HE STATESMAN'S YEAR-BooK, 1955, pp. 340-41. Nationalflag: Blue, yellow, green (horizontal). On 17 Nov. 1958 tbe Army took over the government. Tbe Couneil of State and the cabinet were dismissed, parliament and all poiitical parties were declared dissolved, and the provisional eonstitution was suspended. The supreme authority was vested in the Supreme Couneil of the Armed Forees under Lieut.-Gen. Ibrahim Abboud. On 25 Oet. 1964 President Abboud dissolved the Supreme Couneil and dismissed the Cabinet. On 30 Oet. President Abboud appointed a civilian Oabinet witb Ser al-Khatm Khalifa as Prime Minister. On 15 Nov. 1964 President Abboud resigned as chief oi' state and supreme eommander. In eonformity with the provisional eonstitution of 1956 a 5-member Oouncil of Sovereignty replaced the presidency. On 8 July 1965 the Oonstituent Assembly elected Ismail EI-Azhari as President of the Supreme Council; its otber member" are Abdel Rahman Abdoun, Felman Majok, Khidir Ramad and Abdullah Alfadil EI-Mahdi. Prime Minister: Sadik ei-Mahdi, Foreign Affairs and Justice: Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil. Defence and Information: Ahmed ei-Mahdi. On 9 Dee. 1965 the Constituent Assembly proseribed the Communist Party. LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The Sudan is divided into 9 provinees and 84 loeal government areas. In eaeh provinee there is a provinee administration set up under the Provincial Administration Aet, 1960, and in each local govern ment area there ia a local government authority set up under the Local Government Act, 1951. A Province Administration is eomposed of the commissioner, the province council and the province authority. The commissioner ia the chairman of the province authority and the head of all governmont officials in the provinee. The provinee couneil, warranted by the Council ofMinisterB, may be composed of ex-oificio members, members elected by and from loeal government authority panels and members appointed by the Government. A province council has eompetence to pass the province budget and has supervisory powers over local government authorities. The province authority is composed of the head representatives of the various central government ministries in the provinee. Its main funetion is the exeeution of the provinee couneil decisions. A local government authority is either a local government council warranted by the Council ofMinisters (59 areas) or a government official (25 areas). A local government couneil is two-thirds elected by residents in the area and one-third appointed by the Minister. S. H. Steinberg (Ed.), The Statesman’s Year-Book © Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 1967 TUE SUDAN 144[) AREA AND POPULATION. The Sudan covers an area of 967,500 sq. miles (2·5m. sq. km). The Eritrea-Sudan frontier and thc frontier with the Cha,d and Centl'al African Republics have been delimited and demarcated, as also has thc grcater part of tho frontier with Ethiopia. The population according to the 1955-fJ6 ccnsus was 10,262,674. The estimate on 1 Jan. 1964 was 13,011,000. The population conBists mainly (two-thirds to four-fifths) of Moslem Arabs. and Nubians in I,he north ami Nilotic and Negro tribes in thc south. Area (in sq. miles) and population oI provinces (Jan. 1961 estimate), with inhabitants of provincial capitalö (Jan. 1964 ostimate) were as follows: Province Aren Population Oapital lnbabitants Bahr EI Ghaza! . 82,530 1,157,016 \Vau 11,000 Blue Nile 54,880 2,397,528 Wad Medani 57,000 Darfur 191,650 1,538,712 EI Fasher 30,000 Equatoria. 76,'\~5 I,04~,664 Jub~ 15.000 Kassala 131,528 1,097,376 Kassala 49,000 Khartoum 8,091 584.472 Khartoum 135,000 Kordofan 146,DöO 2,0Gl;616 EIObeid 60,000 Nortbern 184,200 1,013,880 EI Damer 7,000 Upper Nile 91,IUO 1,037,736 Malakal 1l,OOO The capital is Khartoum. Other important cities are: Omdurman (167,000), Khartoum Nortb (58,000), Port Sudan (57,000), Atbara (45,000), Kosti (30,000). RELIGION. Thc population of tbe 6 nortbern provinces is almost entircly Moslem (Sunni), tbc majority of the 3 sonthern provinces is pagan. There are small Christian eommunities, with 2 Coptic Bishops, a Greek Orthodox metropolitan, an Anglican bishop and assistant bishop, 4 Roman Catholic bishops and Greek Evangelical, Evangelieal and ~laronite congregations. In 1962 Protestants numbered about 95,000. Some of the foreign mis sionaries were expellecl from the southern pl'Ovinces in March 1964. EDUCATION (1964--65). Private kindergartens had 2,210 pupils; govern ment elementary schools, 315,189 boys am!151,684 girls; private elementary schools, 6,025 boys and 5,475 girls; government intermediate schools, 34,304 boys and 6,777 girls; private intermediate schools, 20,917 boys and 6,366 girls; government secondary schoolE, 13,506 boys and 2,449 girls; private secondary schools, 7,640 boys and 1,577 girls. Higher technical training was given to 839 boys ami 68 girls, lligher vocational training to 230 boys; teachers' training colleges had 1,733 male and 577 femalc students. Khartoum University had 2,100 stuclents. HEALTH. Thc medical services of thc Ministry of Health maintain 72 hospitals, 1,138 dispensaries anel dressing stations, 56 health centres (with together 13,27S heds), and 422 <loctors. Ono Christian Mission also main tains loeal medieal services. JUSTICE. The judiciary is u separate und independent departmcnt of state directly and mlely responsible 10 thc Supreme Council of Stnto. The general administrative supervision and control of thc judiciury is vested in the Chief J ustice. Civil ju~licc ie administcred by tllC' C0\1118 constituted nudcr tho Civil Justice Orclillunce_ nafllely Ow H ii!11 Conrl nf Justicc--consieting of the Court 01 Appeal find .JUelg08 01 thc Ii igl, (nUtt. "itting as court,p, of original jurisdiction-and l'lOvince Courts---consisting of the Courts of Province and 1446 THE SUDAN District Judges. The law administered is 'justice, equity and good con science' in aJl cases where there ie no special enactment. Procedure is governed by the Civil J ustice Ordinance. Justice in personal matters for the Moslem population is administered by the Mohammedan law courts, which form the Sharia Divisions of the Court of Appeal, High Courts and Kadis Courts; Prcsidcnt of the Sharia Division is the Grand Kadi. The religious law of Islam is administcred by these courts in the mattors of inheritance, marriage, divorce, family relationship and charitable trosts. Oriminal justice is administered by the courts constituted under the Cod" of Criminal Procedure, narnely l\lajor Courts, Minor Courts and Magistrates' Courts. Scrious crimes are tried by Major Courts which are cornposed of a President and 2 members and have the power to pass the death sentence. Major Courts are, as a role, presided over by a Judge of the High Court appointed to a Provincial Circuit or a Province Judge. There is a right of appeal to the Chief Justice against any decision or order of a Major Court, and aJl its findings and senten ces are subject" to eonfirmation by hirn. The President of the Supreme Counei! of the Armed Forces has power to commute a capital sentence. The Chief Justice has power to remit any case subject to confirmation b.v him to the Court of Criminal Appeal composed of the Chief Justice and 2 Magistrates of the first dass one of whom has to be a Judge ofthe High Court. Lesser crimes are tried by Minor Courts consisting of 3 Magistrates and presided over by a Second Class Magistrate, and by Magistrates' Courts consisting of a single Magistrate or a bench of lay magistrates. In Pro vinces in which circuits of the High Court exist the High Court Judge, in other cases the Province Judge, exercises an appellate jurisdiction and a general supervision over these courts. The greater part of the criminallaw is codified in the Sudan Penal Code. Local courts, constituted under the Native Courts Ordinance, 1932, and the Chiefs' Courts Ordinance. 1931, administer ci vi! and eriminal justiee in accordance with the native custom and deal with ofIences against specific ordinances; they work to some extcnt parallel with the state courts. Appeals lie to members of the state judiciary and ex-officio magistrates. and local courts are subject to supervision by them. Juvenile oJfences are dealt with by the 2 juvenile delinquent courts, con stituted under the Code of Criminal Procedure, at Wad Medani and Omdur man. All legislative enactments, ordinanees and regulations (previously printed in 4 vols.) have been reprinted (in 11 vols.) in English. A committee is undertaking its translation into Arabic. FINANCE. Revenue and expenditure in Sudanese pounds (1:S1 = ;EI 08. 6d.) for financial years ending 30 Junc: 1962-63 ' 1963-64 ' 1964-65 ' 1965-66 1 1966-67 1 Revenue. 61,034,473 67,228,368 73,565,821 78,541,631 79,042,000 Expenditure 52,152,337 58,209,328 56,963,930 72,114,000 83,267,000 1 E:stimntes. The chief sources of revenue in 1965-66 were indirect taxation from custom duties on imports and royalties on exports (fS34,680,440) and profits on trading concerns, rai!ways, shares on cotton schemes (fSI5,114,270).