Impacts of New Development Projects on Sudanese Culture and Heritage

Sudan is currently undergoing a crisis of catastrophic proportion. Often described as ''ethnic cleansing'' or ''genocide'', the situation is life threatening and unstable. Instigating factors of one of Africa's longest civil wars include religion, identity, ethnicity, and natural resources. Consequently, tension has accumulated over who is "in control" of the Sudanese conflict - the Sudanese government, the African Union, or the United Nations. International media has fixated on murders, rapes, starvation, refugees and displacement, political instability, foreign relations, and peace talks. Less attention has been focussed on social and environmental issues or cultural heritage and the implications of its destruction. Hence, this article will explore some of the impacts of a new development project on social and environmental matters, and cultural heritage sites in Sudan.