FACTBOX - Key facts about Sudan

LONDON - Here are some key facts about Sudan, which has charged British teacher Gillian Gibbons with insulting religion after her class named a school teddy bear Mohammad.

AREA: 2.5 million sq km. Africa's largest country, Sudan straddles the middle reaches of the Nile. It is bounded by Egypt to the north; the Red Sea, Ethiopia and Eritrea to the east; Kenya, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south; and the Central African Republic, Chad and Libya to the west.

POPULATION: 36.2 million. The country is populated by mainly Arab and Nubian peoples in the north and Nilotic and Bantu peoples in the south.

RELIGION: About 70 percent Muslim and 10 percent Christian. The rest is made up by those practising traditional religions and small populations of other faiths.

LANGUAGE: Arabic. There are more than 100 languages in the country spoken by different ethnic groups.

CAPITAL: Khartoum.

ARMED FORCES: 104,800 including 20,000 conscripts. This is made up of 100,000 in the Army, 1,800 in the Navy and 3,000 in the Air Force.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS: Sudan is among the world's poorest nations.

GDP: $21.1 billion. (2004)