"Sudan's treasures uncovered"

By Alex Mackworth Gee for CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Today Sudan presents the picture of an Islamic government at odds with the rest of the world.

The United Nations says about 50,000 people have been killed in Darfur and about 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes since rebellion broke out in the western region in February 2003.

But the largest country in Africa was not always like this. It was for thousands of years the point of contact between central Africa and the Mediterranean world.

This is the emphasis of a new theme of talks, "Sudan: past and present," which the British Museum is hosting on subjects including religion, culture, ethnicity in modern Sudan as well as the history of the region.

A long-planned archaeological exhibition, running until January 9 2005, "Sudan: Ancient Treasures," also traces the history of Northern and Central Sudan from 200,000 years BC to the end of 19th Century -- running through Egyptian rule and defeat, the Romans, Christianization, Islamification and up to joint Anglo-Egyptian rule.

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