Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0341/03416.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 29KB | 456 lines

$Unique_ID{COW03416}
$Pretitle{227}
$Title{Sudan
Chapter 1D.   Independent Sudan}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Robert Rinehart}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{government
southern
umma
south
parliament
political
sudan
leaders
nup
sadiq}
$Date{1982}
$Log{Figure 9.*0341601.scf
}
Country:     Sudan
Book:        Sudan, A Country Study
Author:      Robert Rinehart
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 1D.   Independent Sudan

     The agenda for progress toward self-determination proposed by the
condominium powers was set aside by the Azhari government. Although his
pro-Egyptian NUP had won a firm majority in the 1953 parliamentary elections,
demonstrations and riots made it apparent to Azhari that popular opinion had
shifted decisively against union with Egypt. Many officeholders, whose past
support for union had been based largely on the usefulness of Egyptian backing
against the British, also realized that their own position as leaders in Sudan
might be jeopardized by the merger. Azhari, who for many years had been the
major spokesman for the "unity of the Nile valley," reversed the NUP's stand
and came out in favor of Sudanese independence. In August 1955 he called for
the speedy withdrawal of foreign troops and requested the condominium powers
to sponsor a plebiscite in advance of the scheduled date. Independence was
achieved, however, by a simple declaration adopted unanimously by the Sudanese
parliament on December 19, 1955. On January 1, 1956, Sudan became an
independent republic (see fig. 9).

[See Figure 9.: Sudan at Independence]

The Politics of Independence

     The country obtained independence without the rival political parties
having agreed on the form and content of a permanent constitution. Instead the
Constituent Assembly had adopted a transitional constitution, which replaced
the governor-general as head of state with a five-member supreme commission
that was elected by a parliament composed of an indirectly elected Senate and
a popularly elected House of Representatives. Executive power was placed in
the hands of the prime minister, who was nominated by the House and confirmed
in office by the Supreme Commission, which also oversaw the operation of the
judiciary.

     Although independence was achieved without conflict and with a minimum of
bitterness, the government inherited outstanding problems left over from the
condominium. The employment of Sudanese in the administration was achieved
with remarkable speed and good will while the government provided compensation
and pensions for the British officers of the Sudan Political Service who left
the country and retained those who could not be replaced, mostly technicians
and teachers. Wholesale replacement of British administrators in the south by
northern Sudanese, however, confirmed southern fears of domination by Muslim
Arabs. Southern political leaders concentrated their efforts in Khartoum,
where they hoped to win constitutional concessions. Although outspoken about
the demands of the south, they were opposed to violence. Most southern
representatives, however, were fully committed to the cause of provincial
autonomy and warned that failure to win legal concessions would drive the
south to open rebellion.

     At the time of the independence negotiations the southern representatives
were given assurances that their demands for greater autonomy would be given
full consideration, but the matter was shelved by the Constituent Assembly.
The government's policy was to employ northern administrators in the southern
region, to ignore demands for a federal system, and to assimilate the south
through a policy of arabization and Islamization that was pursued vigorously.

     The parliamentary regime introduced plans for the rapid expansion of the
educational system and an ambitious economic development program that featured
extension of land under irrigation and improvement of the transportation
infrastructure. It was understood that these undertakings would require a
substantial infusion of foreign economic aid and technical assistance to which
Britain and the United States made an early commitment. After independence
Sudan was admitted to the United Nations (UN), the League of Arab States (Arab
League), and the Organization of African Unity (OAU), and the government
announced its adherence to a policy of nonalignment in international affairs.

     Although the prime minister yielded to the demands of the religious
leaders and formed a coalition cabinet in February 1956 that included
opposition elements, he had alienated by this time the Khatmiya by making
clear his preference for a secular government. In June the People's Democratic
Party (PDP) was established under Mirghani's leadership by members of the
Khatmiya who defected from the NUP. The Umma and PDP combined in parliament to
bring down the Azhari government. A coalition government put together by
Abdullah Khalil with support from the two parties also received backing from
the Ansars and Khatmiya and was seen as an alliance between the two rival
religious groups to counter the growing secular influence represented by the
NUP.

     Major issues confronting Khalil's coalition government included winning
agreement on a permanent constitution, ongoing difficulties in the south,
economic problems arising from Sudan's dependence on cotton as a cash crop,
and relations with Egypt, all of which were complicated to some degree by
strains within the Umma-PDP coalition. Umma, for instance, wanted the proposed
constitution to institute a presidential form of government on the assumption
that Abdal Rahman would be elected the first president. Rapid economic
expansion had proved costly. The bumper cotton crop of 1957, which Sudan was
unable to sell at a good price in a glutted market, was followed in 1958 by a
poor harvest. With its reserves depleted as a result and unrest mounting over
economic restrictions imposed by the government, the Umma called for greater
reliance on foreign aid to overcome current difficulties and to underwrite
future projects, but the PDP objected on the grounds that such a course of
action betrayed the pro-Western slant of Khalil's foreign policy and promoted
unacceptable foreign influence in Sudan. In this as in other matters the PDP
was influenced by the brand of Arab nationalism espoused by Gamal Abdul
Nasser, who had replaced Naguib as leader of Egypt in 1954. The unlikely
alignment of the two political parties-having outstanding policy differences
and backed by two traditionally hostile religious groups-nevertheless held
together for the remaining year of the parliament's tenure and after its
adjournment cooperated in preparation of a common front for elections to be
held in February 1958.

     The electorate gave a plurality in both houses to the Umma and an overall
majority to the Umma-PDP coalition. But the NUP, without major religious
support, won nearly one-fourth of the seats, largely from the urban centers
and from Jazirah Scheme agricultural workers. Two weeks before the Sudanese
elections, Nasser sponsored a plebiscite in Egypt and Syria that approved the
formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) and in the course of it provoked a
boundary dispute with Sudan by insisting that persons living between the
twenty-second parallel-the boundary defined in the Condominium Agreement-and
the border of the territory actually administered from Khartoum since 1902
were Egyptian and therefore should be allowed to vote. Although he withdrew
his demands, the crisis worked to the disadvantage of the PDP and the NUP,
both of which the Umma accused of being soft on Egypt.

     In the south the vote represented a rejection of the men who had
cooperated with the government-all three of the southerners in the preelection
cabinet were defeated-and a victory for advocates of autonomy within a federal
system. Resentment against the government's taking over mission schools and
against the measures used in putting down the 1955 mut