<P> The period's "closed door" ordinances, which barred northern Sudanese from entering or working in the south, reinforced this separate development policy . Moreover, the British gradually replaced Arab administrators and expelled Arab merchants, thereby severing the south's last economic contacts with the north . The colonial administration also discouraged the spread of Islam, the practice of Arab customs, and the wearing of Arab dress . At the same time, the British made efforts to revitalize African customs and tribal life that the slave trade had disrupted . Finally, a 1930 directive stated that blacks in the southern provinces were to be considered a people distinct from northern Muslims and that the region should be prepared for eventual integration with British East Africa . </P> <P> Although potentially a rich agricultural zone, the south's economic development suffered because of the region's isolation . Moreover, a continual struggle went on between British officials in the north and south, as those in the former resisted recommendations that northern resources be diverted to spur southern economic development . Personality clashes between officials in the two branches in the Sudan Political Service also impeded the south's growth . </P> <P> Those individuals who served in the southern provinces tended to be military officers with previous Africa experience on secondment to the colonial service . They usually were distrustful of Arab influence and were committed to keeping the south under British control . By contrast, officials in the northern provinces tended to be Arabists often drawn from the diplomatic and consular service . Whereas northern provincial governors conferred regularly as a group with the governor general in Khartoum, their three southern colleagues met to coordinate activities with the governors of the British East African colonies . </P> <P> Sudanese nationalism, as it developed after World War I, was an Arab and Muslim phenomenon with its support base in the northern provinces . Nationalists opposed indirect rule and advocated a centralized national government in Khartoum responsible for both regions . Nationalists also perceived Britain's southern policy as artificially dividing Sudan and preventing its unification under an arabized and Islamic ruling class . </P>

British economic practices during the colonial period in sudan