Sudanese in the United Kingdom

Sudanese in the United Kingdom (also British Sudanese) including Sudanese-born immigrants to the UK and their British-born descendants are an extremely diverse national group, especially in terms of political and religious views. It is thought that the UK is home to the oldest Sudanese diaspora in the Western World, as well as one of the largest. Sudanese migrants to the UK have traditionally included professionals, business people and academics, and more recently have included asylum seekers fleeing Sudan's second civil war. Sudanese people live in many of the UK's largest cities and towns.

History and settlement

The Sudanese community in the UK is most likely the oldest in the developed world. Despite two civil wars and the war in Darfur, which decimated the Sudanese population by several million, the earliest immigrants from Sudan to the UK were not asylum seekers, but mostly professionals, business people and academics. This migration trend lasted until the late 1980s when the Sudanese government was ousted by a military coup led by Omar al-Bashir, who soon claimed presidency over Sudan.

The nature of Sudanese migration to the UK changed dramatically and has continued through to the 21st century, when several violent struggles between the Janjaweed militia and numerous rebel groups displaced millions of people, and despite an improving economy in Sudan there remains considerable civil and political unrest in the North African nation. Thousands of these displaced persons ultimately fled to the UK, amongst other countries, and claimed asylum.

Asylum applications from Sudan peaked in 1993 and again in 2004.