Southern Kordofan is one of the 15 wilayat

States of Sudan

Below is a list of the 15 states of Sudan, organized by their original provinces during the period of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Arabic language versions are, as appropriate, in parentheses. States that were not provinces before 1994 are marked with . Transliterations from Arabic to English may vary;...

 or provinces of Sudan

Sudan

Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...

. It has an area of 158,355 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,100,000 people (2000). Kaduqli

Kaduqli

Kaduqli is a capital city of South Kurdufan State, Sudan. It is located 149 miles south of al-Ubayyid, at the northern edge of the White Nile plain. It contains Hilal Stadium.-History:...

 is the capital of the state. It is centered around the Nuba Hills.

As per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement

Comprehensive Peace Agreement

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement , also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was a set of agreements culminating in January 2005 that were signed between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan...

, residents of South Kordofan were to hold ill-defined "popular consultations" in 2011 to determine the constitutional future of the state. However, South Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun

Ahmed Haroun

Ahmed Mohammed Haroun is one of three Sudanese men wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur...

, who himself is charged with various war crime

War crime

War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...

s against civilians and crime against humanity

Crime against humanity

Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings...

 by the International Criminal Court

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...

, suspended the process and violence followed.

History

South Kordofan shares the history of North Kordofan. Although South Kordofan is north of the international border with South Sudan

South Sudan

South Sudan , officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country located in the Sahel region of northeastern Africa. It is also part of the North Africa UN sub-region. Its current capital is Juba, which is also its largest city; the capital city is planned to be moved to the more...

, it is home to many pro-south communities, especially in the Nuba Mountains

Nuba Mountains

Nuba Mountains is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the 18th century, Nuba Mountains became home to the kingdom of Taqali that controlled the hills of the mountains until their defeat by...

, some of whom fought alongside southern rebels during the long civil war

Second Sudanese Civil War

The Second Sudanese Civil War started in 1983, although it was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated in southern Sudan, the civil war spread to the Nuba mountains and Blue Nile by the end of the 1980s....

.

In 2009 and 2010 a series of conflicts between rival nomadic tribes in South Kordofan caused a large number of casualties and displaced thousands.

On June 6, 2011 armed conflict broke out between the forces of Northern and Southern Sudan, ahead of the scheduled independence of the South on July 9. This followed an agreement for both sides to withdraw from Abyei

Abyei

The Abyei Area is an area of in Sudan accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of Abyei Area is Abyei Town...

.On June 20, the parties agreed to demilitarize the contested area of Abyei where Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

n peacekeepers will be deployed.

Districts of Southern Kordofan

1. Dilling District
2. Rashad District
3. Abu Jubaiyah District
4. Talodi District
5. Kadugli District
6. Lagawa District
7. As Salam District
8. Abyei District
   Abyei District
   Abyei District was a former district of Sudan, considered part of the state of West Kurdufan. Upon the dissolution of West Kurdufan in 2005, it was included in the state of South Kurdufan...
   
    (abolished)

Area with "Special Administrative Status", considered part of both South Kordofan and Northern Bahr el Ghazal, under Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict:

• Abyei Area
  Abyei
  The Abyei Area is an area of in Sudan accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the resolution of the Abyei conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of Abyei Area is Abyei Town...
  
  (not shown on map)

External links

• The Nuba Mountains Homepage