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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
Recognizing its inability to quell growing southern
discontent, the Abbud regime asked the civilian sector to submit
proposals for a solution to the southern problem. However,
criticism of government policy quickly went beyond the southern
issue and included Abbud's handling of other problems, such as
the economy and education. Government attempts to silence these
protests, which were centered in the University of Khartoum,
brought a reaction not only from teachers and students but also
from Khartoum's civil servants and trade unionists. The so-called
October Revolution of 1964 centered around a general strike that
spread throughout the country. Strike leaders identified
themselves as the National Front for Professionals. Along with
some former politicians, they formed the leftist United National
Front (UNF), which made contact with dissident army officers.
After several days of rioting that resulted in many deaths,
Abbud dissolved the government and the Supreme Council of the
Armed Forces. UNF leaders and army commanders who planned the
transition from military to civilian rule selected a nonpolitical
senior civil servant, Sirr al Khatim al Khalifa, as prime
minister to head a transitional government.
The new civilian regime, which operated under the 1956
Transitional Constitution, tried to end political factionalism by
establishing a coalition government. There was continued popular
hostility to the reappearance of political parties, however,
because of their divisiveness during the Abbud regime. Although
the new government allowed all parties, including the SCP, to
operate, only five of fifteen posts in Khatim's cabinet went to
party politicians. The prime minister gave two positions to
nonparty southerners and the remaining eight to members of the
National Front for Professionals, which included several
communists.
Eventually two political parties emerged to represent the
south. The Sudan African National Union (SANU), founded in 1963
and led by William Deng and Saturino Lahure, a Roman Catholic
priest, operated among refugee groups and guerrilla forces. The
Southern Front, a mass organization led by Stanislaus Payasama
that had worked underground during the Abbud regime, functioned
openly within the southern provinces. After the collapse of
government-sponsored peace conferences in 1965, Deng's wing of
SANU--known locally as SANU-William--and the Southern Front
coalesced to take part in the parliamentary elections. SANU
remained active in parliament for the next four years as a voice
for southern regional autonomy within a unified state. Exiled
SANU leaders balked at Deng's moderate approach and formed the
Azania Liberation Front based in Kampala, Uganda.
Anya Nya leaders remained aloof from political movements. The
guerrillas were fragmented by ethnic and religious differences.
Additionally, conflicts surfaced within Anya Nya between older
leaders who had been in the bush since 1955, and younger, better
educated men like Joseph Lagu, a former Sudanese army captain,
who eventually became a strong guerrilla leader, largely because
of his ability to get arms from Israel.
The government scheduled national elections for March 1965
and announced that the new parliament's task would be to prepare
a new constitution. The deteriorating southern security situation
prevented elections from being conducted in that region, however,
and the political parties split on the question of whether
elections should be held in the north as scheduled or postponed
until the whole country could vote. The PDP and SCP, both fearful
of losing votes, wanted to postpone the elections, as did
southern elements loyal to Khartoum. Their opposition forced the
government to resign. The president of the reinstated Supreme
Commission, who had replaced Abbud as chief of state, directed
that the elections be held wherever possible. The PDP rejected
this decision and boycotted the elections.
The 1965 election results were inconclusive. Apart from a low
voter turnout, there was a confusing overabundance of candidates
on the ballots. As a result, few of those elected won a majority
of the votes cast. The Umma captured 75 out of 158 parliamentary
seats while its NUP ally took 52 of the remainder. The two
parties formed a coalition cabinet in June headed by Umma leader
Muhammad Ahmad Mahjub, whereas Azhari, the NUP leader, became the
Supreme Commission's permanent president and chief of state.
The Mahjub government had two goals: progress toward solving
the southern problem and the removal of communists from positions
of power. The army launched a major offensive to crush the
rebellion and in the process augmented its reputation for
brutality among the southerners. Many southerners reported
government atrocities against civilians, especially at Juba and
Waw. Sudanese army troops also burned churches and huts, closed
schools, and destroyed crops and cattle. To achieve his second
objective, Mahjub succeeded in having parliament approve a decree
that abolished the SCP and deprived the eleven communists of
their seats.
In October 1965, the Umma-NUP coalition collapsed because of
a disagreement over whether Mahjub, as prime minister, or Azhari,
as president, should conduct Sudan's foreign relations. Mahjub
continued in office for another eight months but resigned in July
1966 after a parliamentary vote of censure, which resulted in a
split in the Umma. The traditional wing led by Mahjub, under the
Imam Al Hadi al Mahjub's spiritual leadership, opposed the
party's majority. The latter group professed loyalty to the
imam's nephew, the younger Sadiq al Mahdi, who was the Umma's
official leader and who rejected religious sectarianism. Sadiq
became prime minister with backing from his own Umma wing and
from NUP allies.
The Sadiq al Mahdi government, supported by a sizable
parliamentary majority, sought to reduce regional disparities by
organizing economic development. Sadiq al Mahdi also planned to
use his personal rapport with southern leaders to engineer a
peace agreement with the insurgents. He proposed to replace the
Supreme Commission with a president and a southern vice president
and called for the approval of autonomy for the southern
provinces.
The educated elite and segments of the army opposed Sadiq al
Mahdi because of his gradualist approach to Sudan's political,
economic, and social problems. Leftist student organizations and
the trade unions demanded the creation of a socialist state.
Although these elements lacked widespread popular support, they
represented an influential portion of educated public opinion.
Their resentment of Sadiq increased when he refused to honor a
Supreme Court ruling that overturned legislation banning the SCP
and ousting communists elected to parliamentary seats. In
December 1966, a coup attempt by communists and a small army unit
against the government failed. The government subsequently
arrested many communists and army personnel.
In March 1967, the government held elections in thirty-six
constituencies in pacified southern areas. The Sadiq al Mahdi
wing of the Umma won fifteen seats, the federalist SANU ten, and
the NUP five. Despite this apparent boost in his support,
however, Sadiq's position in parliament had become tenuous
because of concessions he promised to the south in order to bring
an end to the civil war. The Umma traditionalist wing opposed
Sadiq al Mahdi because of his support for constitutional
guarantees of religious freedom and his refusal to declare Sudan
an Islamic state. When the traditionalists and the NUP withdrew
their support, his government fell. In May 1967, Mahjub became
prime minister and head of a coalition government whose cabinet
included members of his wing of the Umma, of the NUP, and of the
PDP. In December 1967, the PDP and the NUP formed the Democratic
Unionist Party (DUP) under Azhari's leadership.
By early 1968, widening divisions in the Umma threatened the
survival of the Mahjub government. Sadiq al Mahdi's wing held a
majority in parliament and could thwart any government action.
Mahjub therefore dissolved parliament. However, Sadiq refused to
recognize the legitimacy of the prime minister's action. As a
result, two governments functioned in Khartoum--one meeting in
the parliament building and the other on its lawn--both of which
claimed to represent the legislature's will. The army commander
requested clarification from the Supreme Court regarding which of
them had authority to issue orders. The court backed Mahjub's
dissolution; the government scheduled new elections for April.
Although the DUP won 101 of 218 seats, no single party
controlled a parliamentary majority. Thirty-six seats went to the
Umma traditionalists, thirty to the Sadiq wing, and twenty-five
to the two southern parties--SANU and the Southern Front. The SCP
secretary general, Abd al Khaliq Mahjub, also won a seat. In a
major setback, Sadiq lost his own seat to a traditionalist rival.
Because it lacked a majority, the DUP concluded an alliance
with Umma traditionalists, who received the prime ministership
for their leader, Muhammad Ahmad Mahjub, and four other cabinet
posts. The coalition's program included plans for government
reorganization, closer ties with the Arab world, and renewed
economic development efforts, particularly in the southern
provinces. The Muhammad Ahmad Mahjub government also accepted
military, technical, and economic aid from the Soviet Union.
Sadiq al Mahdi's wing of the Umma formed the small parliamentary
opposition. When it refused to participate in efforts to complete
the draft constitution, already ten years overdue, the government
retaliated by closing the opposition's newspaper and clamping
down on pro-Sadiq demonstrations in Khartoum.
By late 1968, the two Umma wings agreed to support the Ansar
chief Imam Al Hadi al Mahdi in the 1969 presidential election. At
the same time, the DUP announced that Azhari also would seek the
presidency. The communists and other leftists aligned themselves
behind the presidential candidacy of former Chief Justice Babikr
Awadallah, whom they viewed as an ally because he had ruled
against the government when it attempted to outlaw the SCP.
Data as of June 1991
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