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Sudan
Umma Party
During the last period of parliamentary democracy, the Umma Party
was the largest in the country, and its leader, Sadiq al Mahdi
served as prime minister in all coalition governments between
1986 and 1989. Originally founded in 1945, the Umma was the political
organization of the Islamic Ansar movement. Its supporters followed
the strict teachings of the Mahdi, who ruled Sudan in the 1880s.
Although the Ansar were found throughout Sudan, most lived in
rural areas of western Darfur and Kurdufan. Since Sudan became
independent in 1956, the Umma Party has experienced alternating
periods of political prominence and persecution. Sadiq al Mahdi
became head of the Umma and spiritual leader of the Ansar in 1970,
following clashes with the Nimeiri government, during which about
3,000 Ansar were killed. Following a brief reconciliation with
Nimeiri in the mid-1970s, Sadiq al Mahdi was imprisoned for his
opposition to the government's foreign and domestic policies,
including his 1983 denunciation of the September Laws as being
un-Islamic.
Despite Sadiq al Mahdi's criticisms of Nimeiri's efforts to exploit
religious sentiments, the Umma was an Islamic party dedicated
to achieving its own Muslim political agenda for Sudan. Sadiq
al Mahdi had never objected to the sharia becoming the law of
the land, but rather to the "un-Islamic" manner Nimeiri had used
to implement the sharia through the September Laws. Thus, when
Sadiq al Mahdi became prime minister in 1986, he was loath to
become the leader who abolished the sharia in Sudan. Failing to
appreciate the reasons for non-Muslim antipathy toward the sharia,
Sadiq al Mahdi cooperated with his brother-in-law, NIF leader
Turabi, to draft Islamic legal codes for the country. By the time
Sadiq al Mahdi realized that ending the civil war and retaining
the sharia were incompatible political goals, public confidence
in his government had dissipated, setting the stage for military
intervention. Following the June 1989 coup, Sadiq al Mahdi was
arrested and kept in solitary confinement for several months.
He was not released from prison until early 1991. Sadiq al Mahdi
indicated approval of political positions adopted by the Umma
Party during his detention, including joining with the SPLM and
northern political parties in the National Democratic Alliance
opposition grouping.
Data as of June 1991
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