Word: nimeiri
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...country. Since 1983 the insurgents have violently resisted efforts of the Muslim-dominated government in Khartoum to impose its customs on the Christian and pagan south. Led by John Garang, a Christian from the Dinka tribe, the rebels have especially chafed against the "September laws" of former President Gaafar Nimeiri. Imposed in September 1983, the Islamic laws have been applied with unusual severity to all Sudanese, whatever their religion. In 1984 alone, hundreds of people, including foreigners, were given 80 lashes if liquor was detected on their breath. More than 200 others, convicted of theft, had their hands...
...When Nimeiri was ousted in a bloodless coup last year by his Defense Minister, Abdul Rahman Suwar al Dahab, it seemed peace might be restored. But before long, the fighting resumed. In May the first national election since 1968 brought to power Sadiq el Mahdi, leader of the moderate Muslim Umma Party. Making peace his top priority, the Oxford-educated Sadiq lost no time in arranging a meeting in Ethiopia with Garang, who holds a doctorate in agricultural economics from Iowa State. Yet the two leaders could not concur on terms for a cease-fire. Last week Sadiq agreed...
Most of the major Sudanese parties profess nonalignment with the superpowers and avow unity within the Arab world. The leading contenders in the elections, the Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist Party, share traditional religious roots. Neither, however, is as militant as the National Islamic Front, which pushed Nimeiri to adopt the strict Islamic law that mandated punishments like amputating the hands of thieves. The party and its charismatic leader, Hassan al Turabi, 53, still have a large constituency among the poor and the young. But analysts predict that the Umma Party, lead by former Prime Minister Sadiq al Mahdi...
That fragile civilian government will inherit formidable problems. Famine still afflicts almost one out of every five Sudanese. In addition, the country must cope with more than 650,000 refugees who have fled famine and war in neighboring countries. Repaying the $9 billion foreign debt piled up by Nimeiri will prove equally difficult. In February the International Monetary Fund, citing the government's inability to repay more than $200 million in overdue loans, took the unusual step of declaring Sudan ineligible for additional assistance. The economic pinch forced Suwar al Dahab's 15-member ruling Transitional Military Council to increase...
...neither side has shown much interest in a negotiated settlement. That stirs uneasy memories of the 17-year civil war, in which 500,000 people were killed, and the failure of the last democratically elected civilian government to resolve the conflict. The result: the 1969 military coup that brought Nimeiri to power...