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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
In June 1986, Sadiq al Mahdi formed a coalition government
with the Umma, the DUP, the NIF, and four southern parties.
Unfortunately, however, Sadiq proved to be a weak leader and
incapable of governing Sudan. Party factionalism, corruption,
personal rivalries, scandals, and political instability
characterized the Sadiq regime. After less than a year in office,
Sadiq al Mahdi dismissed the government because it had failed to
draft a new penal code to replace the sharia, reach an agreement
with the IMF, end the civil war in the south, or devise a scheme
to attract remittances from Sudanese expatriates. To retain the
support of the DUP and the southern political parties, Sadiq
formed another ineffective coalition government.
Instead of removing the ministers who had been associated
with the failures of the first coalition government, Sadiq al
Mahdi retained thirteen of them, of whom eleven kept their
previous portfolios. As a result, many Sudanese rejected the
second coalition government as being a replica of the first. To
make matters worse, Sadiq and DUP leader Mirghani signed an
inadequate memorandum of understanding that fixed the new
government's priorities as affirming the application of the
sharia to Muslims, consolidating the Islamic banking system, and
changing the national flag and national emblem. Furthermore, the
memorandum directed the government to remove Nimeiri's name from
all institutions and dismiss all officials appointed by Nimeiri
to serve in international and regional organizations. As
expected, antigovernment elements criticized the memorandum for
not mentioning the civil war, famine, or the country's
disintegrating social and economic conditions.
In August 1987, the DUP brought down the government because
Sadiq al Mahdi opposed the appointment of a DUP member, Ahmad as
Sayid, to the Supreme Commission. For the next nine months, Sadiq
and Mirghani failed to agree on the composition of another
coalition government. During this period, Sadiq moved closer to
the NIF. However, the NIF refused to join a coalition government
that included leftist elements. Moreover, Turabi indicated that
the formation of a coalition government would depend on numerous
factors, the most important of which were the resignation or
dismissal of those serving in senior positions in the central and
regional governments, the lifting of the state of emergency
reimposed in July 1987, and the continuation of the Constituent
Assembly.
Because of the endless debate over these issues, it was not
until May 15, 1988, that a new coalition government emerged
headed by Sadiq al Mahdi. Members of this coalition included the
Umma, the DUP, the NIF, and some southern parties. As in the
past, however, the coalition quickly disintegrated because of
political bickering among its members. Major disagreements
included the NIF's demand that it be given the post of
commissioner of Khartoum, the inability to establish criteria for
the selection of regional governors, and the NIF's opposition to
the replacement of senior military officers and the chief of
staff of the executive branch.
In November 1988, another more explosive political issue
emerged when Mirghani and the SPLM signed an agreement in Addis
Ababa that included provisions for a cease-fire, the freezing of
the sharia, the lifting of the state of emergency, and the
abolition of all foreign political and military pacts. The two
sides also proposed to convene a constitutional conference to
decide Sudan's political future. The NIF opposed this agreement
because of its stand on the sharia. When the government refused
to support the agreement, the DUP withdrew from the coalition.
Shortly thereafter armed forces commander in chief Lieutenant
General Fathi Ahmad Ali presented an ultimatum, signed by 150
senior military officers, to Sadiq al Mahdi demanding that he
make the coalition government more representative and that he
announce terms for ending the civil war.
On March 11, 1989, Sadiq al Mahdi responded to this pressure
by dissolving the government. The new coalition had included the
Umma, the DUP, and representatives of southern parties and the
trade unions. The NIF refused to join the coalition because it
was not committed to enforcing the sharia. Sadiq claimed his new
government was committed to ending the southern civil war by
implementing the November 1988 DUP-SPLM agreement. He also
promised to mobilize government resources to bring food relief to
famine areas, reduce the government's international debt, and
build a national political consensus. Sadiq's inability to live
up to these promises eventually caused his downfall. On June 30,
1989, Colonel (later Lieutenant General) Umar Hassan Ahmad al
Bashir overthrew Sadiq and established the Revolutionary Command
Council for National Salvation to rule Sudan. Bashir's commitment
to imposing the sharia on the non-Muslim south and to seeking a
military victory over the SPLA, however, seemed likely to keep
the country divided for the foreseeable future and hamper
resolution of the same problems faced by Sadiq al Mahdi.
Moreover, the emergence of the NIF as a political force made
compromise with the south more unlikely.
* * *
Interested readers may consult several books for a better
understanding of Sudan's history. Useful surveys include P.M.
Holt's and M.W. Daly's, A History of the Sudan; Peter
Woodward's, Sudan, 1898-1989; and Kenneth Henderson's
Sudan Republic. Richard Hill's Egypt in the Sudan,
1820-1881 assesses Egypt's nineteenth century conquest and
occupation of Sudan. For an excellent analysis of the British
period, see M.W. Daly's Empire on the Nile and Imperial
Sudan. The postindependence period is discussed in Mansour
Khalid's The Government They Deserve; and Gabriel
Warburg's Islam, Nationalism, and Communism in a Traditional
Society. Apart from these books, the Sudan Notes and
Records journal is essential for studying Sudan's historical
development.
Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the
literature about southern Sudan. Many of Robert Collins's studies
are particularly useful, including Land Beyond the Rivers;
Shadows in the Grass; and The Waters of the Nile.
Two sympathetic assessments of southern Sudan's relationship to
Khartoum are Dunstan M. Wai's, The African-Arab Conflict in
the Sudan and Abel Alier's, Southern Sudan. For an
Arab viewpoint, Mohamed Omer Beshir's The Southern Sudan:
Background to Conflict and The Southern Sudan: From
Conflict to Peace are pertinent. (For further information and
complete citations,
see Bibliography).
Data as of June 1991
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