Sudan - parties and political groups

Last modified: 2002-01-05 by ole andersen
Keywords: sudan | arab | splm | anya-nya | lado | machar | secessionist |
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• Sudan

• Sudan People's Liberation Movement
• Anya-Nya
• Movement of Riak Machar
• Lado
• National Democratic Alliance
• Nile State, c. 1970
• Azania Liberation Front and South Sudan National Provisional Government
• Umma Party
• Darfur

This flag is presumably that of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. It appeared on television during a report related to the war in the South of Sudan and was placed at the side of a personage who I think was Colonel John Garang. The SPLM is not a separatist movement (like the Anya-Nya) but operates in the South with the intention of taking power throughout the country.

Jaume Ollé, 3-MAR-1996

No, I see the flags in TV (at side of the SPDL leader) and sometimes in TV any color can be confused.
JaumeOllé, 17 April 1999

So , I think that the similarity of both flags are too much to be coincidence.
I suggest that the color of the star will be changed to yellow.
Dov Gutterman, 18 April 1999

At http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/5557/new.flag.html is a longish explanation of this flag, illustrated with an image with a yellow (not red) star. [editor's note]

What is the story behind this flag? Is this some new flag, or "only" a flag "want-to-be" of a movement fighting against the recognized Sudani government or what?
Zeljko Heimer, 15 April 1999

As far as I know, it is "want to be" flag, however it got strong resemblance to the flag of South Sudan which as far as I know is not controlled by the central government but by anti-government movement.
Dov Gutterman, 15 April 1999

Regarding the uniqness of this flag (as they claim on the page) I'm not so sure - does this flag says Kenya or Mozambique to some of you. Certainly it is not the same, but... Is there any connection?
Zeljko Heimer, 15 April 1999

Nothing in the site , but you can never know.......
Dov Gutterman, 15 April 1999

The flag with yellow star pointed upside down was reported in Ratio 1:2, but perhaps is an mistake.
Jaume Ollé, 21 April 1999

From the Aspirant Peoples flag chart:
23. "Imatong (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Front, SPLF) - South Sudan."
Horizontal black-red-green, fimbriated white. Light blue triangle at hoist, with a red star.
The Encyclopaedia Universalis says: "Civil war in the South of Sudan began in 1982-83, John Garang's movement is known as "Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and wants to unite the country in a social and socialist fight for the benefit of both North and South of the country."

Ivan Sache, 12 September 1999

We have many southern Sudanese people here (Rochester, Minnesota, USA) who call their flag New Sudan. It is similar to the one on the chart and the FOTW.
It has 5 stripes like Kenya, black/white/red/white/green.
The blue triangle is close to royal blue (darker than UN blue, lighter than the FOTW blue [See the FOTW colour guide, Ed.]).
The star is yellow, not red, and it points to the pole, away from the point of the triangle.
I don't know if this is a splinter group with their own flag, if this is an alternate flag for the same group, if this is a newer or older version, or whatever.

Lee L. Herold, 14 September 1999

I believe that the first star was red and later changed to yellow. I saw this flag with red star at side of Garang with red star, but many years ago.
When Sudanese government say that is according with the South independence, the star can be changed to yellow; or perhaps when the radical procommunist factions scinded from SPLA

Jaume Ollé, 17 October 1999

Ivan Sache, 12 September 1999

The emblem is sketchy, with a european cow, a buffalo would certainly be better.
Ivan Sache, 12 September 1999

General Riak Machar give his name to a movement formed in August 1991 as a break-away from the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

Jaume Ollé, 19-NOV-1996

The Lado territory was a British possession which the British government rented to the Congo Free State in 1894. It was returned to Sudan in 1910. The Bari people in Lado have demanded independence for the territory and have adopted a flag.

Jaume Ollé, 19-NOV-1996

My 'Allers Illustrerede Konversations-Leksikon' from 1906-10 (third volume, K-Me: 1908) says about Lado [translation OA]:

"Trade station in Eastern Sudan [This is 'Sudan' in the old meaning. Today, 'Sahel' would be used instead. OA] on the White Nile [Bahr-el-Djebel. OA]. Built 1874 by the well-known Gordon Pasha, and was the most important station in Egyptian Sudan; after the Mahdi's revolt, it was completely cut off from Egypt 1885; now, leased from England, a part of the Congo State."

Ole Andersen, 12 August 2000

There's more:
1909 - Lado enclave ceded by Belgium from Congo to the Sudan
1912 - Southern half of Lado enclave ceded from the Sudan to Uganda as W. Nile province: Bari-Lotuka area ceded to the Sudan
Source: Freeman-Grenville, 'Chronology of African History', 1973

Lado Enclave: A territory on the West bank of the Nile river north of Lake Albert, now in Uganda and in souteast Sudan; 15.000 square miles; explored by British 1870 and later, and claimed for Great Britain 1894; leased to Belgium 1894-1910. Chief town was Lado, on the Nile just south of Mongalla, Sudan.
Source: Webster's New geographical Dictionary, 1988

Jarig Bakker, 12 August 2000

[A] referendum in the south of Sudan, once the borders are established, could spell a new flag of a new nation, theoretically anyway.

Steve Stringfellow, 06 May 1998

Jaume Ollé, 5 September 1998

Azania was also a word used by leftist groups during the apartheid regime in South Africa as "local" name of new South Africa to be, however it seems to have been derived from Arab "al-zandjijja", meaning the land from the blacks.

Franc van Diest, 13 January 2000

There was some debate prior to 1994 as to whether the name of South Africa should be changed to Azania. However, the term is not originally from South Africa and actually refers to a part of East Africa in Tanzania.

Bruce Berry, 13 January 2000

For several centuries until the 11th century, Azania was used by Arab seafarers for that part of Eastern Africa, with which they traded. Azania refers to 'the land of the blacks' - compare with the Arab word for a black person 'zanj'.

Ole Andersen, 13 January 2000

In South Sudan and Northeast Congo there was (is) a tribe named 'Azande(h)' - which had nothing to do (as far as I know) with Azania / Zanj / Zanzibar. So instead of: 'Azanian' read (possibly): 'Azande Liberation Front'?

Jarig Bakker, 13 January 2000

Reconstructed from written description by Ivan Sache, 22 February 2001

Darfur is the westernmost part of Sudan, along the Chadian border. The major ethnic group is the Fur. According to "Nations Without States" the flag of the Fur national movement is a 1:2:1 horizontal tricolor of green, red and black, with a white crescent on the center stripe.

Ned Smith, 21 February 2001