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Sudan
The Armed Forces in Sudanese Society
When the British attempted to forge an indigenous officer class
before World War II, most Sudanese officers came from upper and
middle-class urban families that enjoyed inherited wealth and
prestige. After that time, greater numbers were drawn from the
emerging class of merchants and civil servants inhabiting urban
areas where formal elementary and secondary education was more
easily obtainable. Officer cadets, who had to possess a fourthyear
secondary school certificate, were chosen on the basis of performance
in a series of written and oral competitive examinations. A requirement
that cadets possess a good knowledge of Arabic had long eliminated
many southerners educated in English who otherwise might have
qualified. It was estimated that only 5 to 10 percent of all Sudanese
officer cadets in 1981 were southerners.
The quality of incoming officers, extremely high during the preindependence
period, was thought to have been lowered by the increased size
of the army--particularly during the 1968-72 surge in personnel
strength. The Sudanese Communist Party, which had become entrenched
in the universities and trade unions during the 1960s, contributed
to the emergence of a generation of officers that was predominantly
anti-Western. Many officers received their initial training from
Soviet advisers. After the revolt against Nimeiri in 1971, in
which some communist officers were implicated, retribution fell
on many of the officers with leftist leanings. The officer corps
became increasingly conservative at a time when Nimeiri himself
was stressing nationalism for Sudan. The military faction that
deposed Nimeiri in 1985 was not distinguished by any particular
political orientation, although as individuals its members maintained
links with all the important social, religious, and ethnic groups.
In spite of the linkage of the Bashir junta to the NIF and Nimeiri's
earlier Islamization program, it was generally believed that among
career officers no more than 5 percent were dedicated to Muslim
activism. Most officers were modern in outlook, of middle-class
and urban backgrounds, and inclined to be nonsectarian.
In the armed forces as a whole, the political and ethnic makeup
was influenced by historical factors. From the time of the Anglo-Egyptian
condominium, many nomadic peoples of northeastern Sudan had served
in the military, as had members of the Khatmiyyah politico-religious
sect. By the 1980s, however, Sudanese from the northeast and the
Nile Valley were estimated to constitute no more than 20 percent
of the military, although they continued to be well represented
in the officer corps. Many officers had ties to the Khatmiyyah
group and to the Mirghani family and were supporters of the Democratic
Unionist Party. Under the Bashir government, northerners continued
to dominate the senior leadership, although numerous sensitive
positions were held by officers with origins in the south. A general
who was a Dinka led one of the brigades active in the fighting
against the Dinka-led SPLA.
In the early 1980s, it was estimated that members of the Ansar
politico-religious group and other Sudanese from Darfur and Kurdufan
provinces accounted for approximately 60 percent of the army's
enlisted manpower. The Ansar and other western Sudanese might
have been even more numerous in the uniformed services had not
recruitment restrictions been imposed during the Nimeiri regime,
when these groups were perceived to be among the major sources
of opposition to the national leadership.
The presence in the armed forces of non-Muslim black southerners
has been a source of contention in Sudan since the condominium
period. Until after World War II, southerners were recruited for
service only in the Equatoria Corps and rarely served alongside
northern Sudanese. Recruitment was suspended after the 1955 mutiny
in the south, and when it was resumed the following year, southern
volunteers were required to serve in the north under northern
officers. The rebellion in the south discouraged southerners from
joining the armed forces until the 1972 settlement.
As part of the Addis Ababa accords ending the civil war, 6,000
of the former Anya Nya (named after a tribal poison) guerrillas
were to be integrated gradually into the national army's Southern
Command to serve with 6,000 northerners. By including southern
officers in the top echelon of the Southern Command, the two forces
appeared to have meshed successfully. In 1982 it was estimated
that southerners outnumbered northerners 7,000 to 5,000 in the
Southern Command, but there were relatively few southerners stationed
in the north, and none held important positions. Nimeiri's decision
the following year to transfer southern troops to the north because
of his doubts over their loyalty to the central government was
resisted by the southerners and was one of a number of factors
that triggered the renewal of the civil war.
Data as of June 1991
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