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Sudan
National Reconciliation
Following the 1976 coup attempt, Nimeiri and his opponents adopted
more conciliatory policies. In early 1977, government officials
met with the National Front in London, and arranged for a conference
between Nimeiri and Sadiq al Mahdi in Port Sudan. In what became
known as the "national reconciliation," the two leaders signed
an eight-point agreement that readmitted the opposition to national
life in return for the dissolution of the National Front. The
agreement also restored civil liberties, freed political prisoners,
reaffirmed Sudan's nonaligned foreign policy, and promised to
reform local government. As a result of the reconciliation, the
government released about 1,000 detainees and granted an amnesty
to Sadiq al Mahdi. The SSU also admitted former supporters of
the National Front to its ranks. Sadiq renounced multiparty politics
and urged his followers to work within the regime's one-party
system.
The first test of national reconciliation occurred during the
February 1978 People's Assembly elections. Nimeiri authorized
returning exiles who had been associated with the old Umma Party,
the DUP, and the Muslim Brotherhood to stand for election as independent
candidates. These independents won 140 of 304 seats, leading many
observers to applaud Nimeiri's efforts to democratize Sudan's
political system. However, the People's Assembly elections marked
the beginning of further political decline. The SSU's failure
to sponsor official candidates weakened party discipline and prompted
many assembly deputies who also were SSU members to claim that
the party had betrayed them. As a result, an increasing number
of assembly deputies used their offices to advance personal rather
than national interests.
The end of the SSU's political monopoly, coupled with rampant
corruption at all levels of government, cast increasing doubt
on Nimeiri's ability to govern Sudan. To preserve his regime,
Nimeiri adopted a more dictatorial leadership style. He ordered
the State Security Organisation to imprison without trial thousands
of opponents and dissidents (see Security Organizations , ch.
5). Nimeiri also dismissed or transferred any minister or senior
military officer who appeared to be developing his own power base.
Nimeiri selected replacements based on their loyalty to him rather
than on their abilities. This strategy caused the president to
lose touch with popular feeling and the country's deteriorated
political situation.
On June 5, 1983, Nimeiri sought to counter the south's growing
political power by redividing the Southern Region into the three
old provinces of Bahr al Ghazal, Al Istiwai, and Aali an Nil;
he had suspended the Southern Regional Assembly almost two years
earlier. The southern-based Sudanese People's Liberation Movement
(SPLM) and its military wing, the Sudanese People's Liberation
Army (SPLA), which emerged in mid-1983, unsuccessfully opposed
this redivision and called for the creation of a new united Sudan.
Within a few months, in September 1983 Nimeiri proclaimed the
sharia as the basis of the Sudanese legal system. Nimeiri's decrees,
which became known as the September Laws, were bitterly resented
both by secularized Muslims and by the predominantly non-Muslim
southerners. The SPLM denounced the sharia and the executions
and amputations ordered by religious courts. Meanwhile, the security
situation in the south had deteriorated so much that by the end
of 1983 it amounted to a resumption of the civil war.
In early 1985, antigovernment discontent resulted in a general
strike in Khartoum. Demonstrators opposed rising food, gasoline,
and transport costs. The general strike paralyzed the country.
Nimeiri, who was on a visit to the United States, was unable to
suppress the rapidly growing demonstrations against his regime.
Data as of June 1991
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