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Sudan
The Muslim Brotherhood
The Muslim Brotherhood, which originated in Egypt, has been active
in Sudan since its formation there in 1949. It emerged from Muslim
student groups that first began organizing in the universities
during the 1940s, and its main support base has remained the college
educated. The Muslim Brotherhood's objective in Sudan has been
to institutionalize Islamic law throughout the country. Hassan
Abd Allah at Turabi, former dean of the School of Law at the University
of Khartoum, had been the Muslim Brotherhood's secretary general
since 1964. He began working with Nimeiri in the mid-1970s, and,
as his attorney general in 1983, played a key role in the controversial
introduction of the sharia. After the overthrow of Nimeiri, Turabi
was instrumental in setting up the NIF, a Brotherhood-dominated
organization that included several other small Islamic parties.
Following the 1989 coup, the RCC-NS arrested Turabi, as well as
the leaders of other political parties, and held him in solitary
confinement for several months. Nevertheless, this action failed
to dispel a pervasive belief in Sudan that Turabi and the NIF
actively collaborated with the RCC-NS. NIF influence within the
government was evident in its policies and in the presence of
several NIF members in the cabinet.
Data as of June 1991
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