Word: nimeiri
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When the military overthrew the 16-year regime of President Gaafar Nimeiri in a bloodless coup last year, Lieut. General Abdul Rahman Suwar al Dahab, the Defense Minister who spearheaded the rebellion, moved into the colonial-style Presidential Palace on the banks of the Blue Nile in Khartoum. Grateful citizens slaughtered a cow in a traditional housewarming gesture to welcome the new leader, but Suwar al Dahab told them his stay would be short. Within a year, he promised, he would hold free elections and turn power over to a civilian government. Last week, Suwar al Dahab showed that...
...word in Khartoum last week was reconciliation: with the Sudanese people, with former enemy Libya and with antigovernment rebels in the south. The ruling military council, which took over after the ouster of President Gaafar Nimeiri last month, appointed a 15-man Cabinet, all but two of them civilians. The military will continue to wield power until elections, which the council has pledged will be held in a year's time...
Suwar al Dahab must also soothe religious divisions aggravated 19 months ago when Nimeiri imposed strict Islamic law on Sudan. Under Nimeiri's draconian enforcement of the Sharia code, the country took on a strangely medieval air: public lashings and executions were reinstated, couples in the street were asked to provide proof of marriage, and thieves could expect to have a hand amputated. In the midst of the coup, the Sudanese proclaimed their resentment of the code. Suwar al Dahab, who is a devout Muslim but no fanatic, has already hinted that he may relax, though not repeal, the imposition...
...south is particularly important because the area, almost as large as France, contains Sudan's most promising oil fields. That source of revenue is desperately needed by a country that has been transformed from a potential breadbasket into an economic basket case. A decade after Nimeiri embarked on a grand agricultural development program, only about 8% of the arable land is under cultivation, exports have fallen 50%, and the government is saddled with a foreign debt of $9 billion. Shortly before his ouster, Nimeiri, under pressure from the U.S. and the International Monetary Fund, imposed austerity measures that included sharp...
...Nimeiri apparently has decided to extend his stay in Cairo indefinitely at the invi- tation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Last week he sent Suwar al Dahab a mes- sage wishing him good luck. The general will need just that...