Blue Nile State (Arabic: ولاية النيل الأزرقWilāyat an-Nīl al-ʾAzraq) is one of the eighteen states of the Republic of the Sudan. It was established by presidential decree nº 3 in 1992 and it is named after the Blue Nile River.
The region is host to around forty different ethnic groups. Its economic activity is based on agriculture and livestock and increasing mineral exploitation.
In 2011, residents of Blue Nile were scheduled to hold ill-defined "popular consultations" to determine the constitutional future of the state, per the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. Instead, a dispute over the rightful government of the state, and the determination of Omar al-Bashir to eradicate the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North, led to a renewed nine-year conflict between government forces and the Sudan Revolutionary Front as well as contributing to a refugee crisis.[3][4] The conflict finally came to an end in 2020 after a peace agreement was signed and the government to not discriminate based on ethnicity or religion.[5][6]Further clashes in the state broke out in 2022 between the Hausa people and Funj and Berta peoples over land disputes which led to the deaths of hundreds of civilians.[7]
Blue Nile state has an area of 45,844 km2 and an estimated population of 1,193,293. The Central Bureau of Statistics quoted the population at 832,112 in the 2006 census. Ad-Damazin is the capital of the state. The state of Blue Nile is home to the Roseires Dam, the main source of hydroelectric power in Sudan until the completion of the Merowe Dam in 2010.
Sudan
