Abdel Rahman Sule is a South Sudanese politician who was one of the founders of the Liberal Party, officially registered as the "Southern Party" in 1953, the main party in Southern Sudan in the years immediately before and after independence in 1956.
Abdel Rahman Sule belonged to the Bari people. [1] He has been described as a farmer and as a trader. [2] [3] Sule was the son of a village chief. Speaking of his childhood, he said: "The effendi who came around our village to kill elephants were Muslims. I used to see what these people were doing. That is how I became a Muslim. In 1927, I was caught with arms from Ethiopia. By then I was already a Muslim. But I was very aware of my African-ness. When I was a kid, if I was woken late in the morning by my father, he would say 'if it had been in the days of the Ansars you would have been taken'. My father always woke me up early so that in his words I am not taken by the Ansars". [4]
Sule was at the forefront of pro-federalist politics in the 1940s and 1950s. [5] Sule, Stanislaus Paysama and Buth Diu founded the Southern Sudanese Political Movement in 1951, with the goals of achieving full independence for Sudan, with special treatment for southern Sudan. The southerners were excluded from the Political Parties agreement with the British colonial authorities, but in 1953 registered the Southern Party, later renamed the Liberal Party. The party was supported by almost all southern intellectuals and by the majority of southern people. Although also open to northerners, none joined. [6] The new party was led by Benjamin Lwoki and funded by Abdel Rahman Sule and Fahal Ukanda, both Muslims. [3] Sule was known as "The Patron" of the party. [7] Sule's Juba branch of the Southern Party was particularly active in recruiting future southern politicians. [2] After the military crack-down in 1960, Sule went into exile and helped lead the south Sudan resistance movement from abroad. [8]
The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originated in southern Sudan, the civil war spread to the Nuba mountains and the Blue Nile. It lasted for almost 22 years and is one of the longest civil wars on record. The war resulted in the independence of South Sudan 6 years after the war ended.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in 1983. On January 9, 2005 the SPLA, the SPLM and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the civil war. SPLM then obtained representation in the Government of Sudan, and was the main constituent of the Government of the then semi-autonomous Southern Sudan. When South Sudan became a sovereign state on 9 July 2011, SPLM became the ruling party of the new republic. SPLM branches in Sudan separated themselves from SPLM, forming the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North. Further factionalism appeared as a result of the 2013–2014 South Sudanese Civil War, with President Salva Kiir leading the SPLM-Juba and former Vice President Riek Machar leading the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.
Dr.Lam Akol Ajawin, is a South Sudanese politician of Shilluk descent. He is the current leader of National Democratic Movement (NDM) party. He is a former high-ranking official in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and subsequently became the Foreign Minister of Sudan from September 2005 to October 2007, when the Khartoum government offered the SPLA several other key ministries as part of a peace agreement.
In January 1899, an Anglo-Egyptian agreement restored Egyptian rule in Sudan but as part of a condominium, or joint authority, exercised by the United Kingdom and Egypt. The agreement designated territory south of the twenty-second parallel as Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Although it emphasized Egypt's indebtedness to Britain for its participation in the reconquest, the agreement failed to clarify the juridical relationship between the two condominium powers in Sudan or to provide a legal basis for continued British governing of the territory on behalf of the Khedive. Article II of the agreement specified that
the supreme military and civil command in Sudan shall be vested in one officer, termed the Governor-General of Sudan. He shall be appointed by Khedival Decree on the recommendation of Her Britannic Majesty's Government and shall be removed only by Khedival Decree with the consent of Her Britannic Majesty's Government.
The Republic of the Sudan was established as an independent sovereign state upon the termination of the condominium of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, over which sovereignty had been vested jointly in Egypt and the United Kingdom. On December 19, 1955, the Sudanese parliament, under Ismail al-Azhari's leadership, unanimously adopted a declaration of independence that became effective on January 1, 1956. During the early years of the Republic, despite political divisions, a parliamentary system was established with a five member Supreme Commission as head of state. In 1958, after a military coup, General Ibrahim Abboud was installed as president. The Republic was disestablished when a coup led by Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry founded the Democratic Republic of Sudan in 1969.
The Sudanese Communist Party is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab world, the other being the Iraqi Communist Party.
Contact between Egypt and Sudan goes back to trade and conflict during ancient times. In 1820, the British conquered Sudan after they had conquered Egypt, and the Egyptians entered Sudan through the British as officials, but they did not have any authority over Sudan. The British continued to occupy the country until Sudan declared independence in 1956. Sudan later joined the Arab League, of which Egypt is a founding member. Relations between successive governments in Egypt and Sudan have warmed and cooled at various times. Relations today are cordial, but tensions remain.
Joseph Oduho Haworu was a leading politician from southern Sudan who was active in the struggle for independence and a founding member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Liberal Party, at first called the Southern Party and later the Southern Liberal Party, was formed in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan before Sudan became independent in January 1956. Until the military coup of November 1958 the Liberals were one of the main parties representing the southern Sudanese constituencies in parliament.
Stanislaus Paysama was one of the founders of the Liberal Party in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan a few years before Sudan gained independence in 1956.
Both Diu or Böth Diew was a politician who was one of the leaders of the Liberal Party in Sudan in the years before and after independence in 1956. His party represented the interests of the southerners. Although in favor of a federal system under which the south would have its own laws and administration, Both Diu was not in favor of southern secession. As positions hardened during the drawn-out First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) his compromise position was increasingly discredited.
Sir Sayyid Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi, KBE was a Sudanese politician and prominent religious leader. He was one of the leading religious and political figures during the colonial era in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1898–1955), and continued to exert great authority as leader of the Neo-Mahdists after Sudan became independent. The British tried to exploit his influence over the Sudanese people while at the same time profoundly distrusting his motives. Throughout most of the colonial era of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the British saw al-Mahdi as important as a moderate leader of the Mahdists.
The Ansar are a Sufi religious movement in the Sudan whose followers are disciples of Muhammad Ahmad, a Sudanese religious leader based on Aba Island who proclaimed himself Mahdi on 29 June 1881. His followers won a series of victories against the Egyptians, culminating in the capture of Khartoum in January 1885.
The Anti-Imperialist Front was a political movement in Sudan, founded in 1952. The Anti-Imperialist Front was organized by the clandestine Sudanese Movement for National Liberation. The communists decided not to try to register their own party ahead of the 1953 legislative election, preferring to launch the Anti-Imperialist Front as their legal umbrella organization.
The Socialist Republican Party was a political party in Sudan, founded in 1951. Ibrahim Bedri was the general secretary of the party. The party was floated ahead of the 1953 Sudanese legislative election. The party mobilized a section of tribal chiefs and sheikhs. However, the development of the Socialist Republican Party never took off, and the party lacked financial resources, organizational structures and a coherent programme.
The Graduates' General Congress (GGC), know also as the Graduates' General Conference, is a Sudanese entity established during the period of colonial bilateral rule in Sudan, and played an important role in the struggle for independence. The birth of the GGC was by graduates of Gordon Memorial College, and graduates of other foreign colleges, including lawyers, teachers, and civil servants, who sought greater political representation and self-determination for Sudan. The first secretary of the GGC was Ismail al-Azhari, which was elected in 1940 before the GGC split in 1943.
Luigi Adwok Bong Gicomeho, also known as Luigi Adwok, was a South Sudanese politician who played a role in the political landscape of post-independence Sudan from the late 1950s into the 1980s. He was one of the first Southern Sudanese officials to serve as head of state of the Republic of Sudan as President of the Second Sudanese Sovereignty Council in March 1965.
Dardiri Mohammed Osman was a Sudanese jurist, writer and politician who was an elected member of the 1955 Sudanese Sovereignty Council.
Abdallah al-Fadil al-Mahdi was a Sudanese statesman. Born in Omdurman, in the Mahdist State; Abdallah hails from a lineage tied to the Funj sultanas. Following family tragedy, he was raised under the care of his maternal uncle. Educated in local schools and Gordon Memorial College, he was redirected to agriculture due to academic performance, completing his education in Tokar. Abdallah embraced agriculture, working with international advisors to modernise Sudanese farming through imported equipment.
The Ansar–Khatmiyyarivalry, also known as al-Mahdi and al-Mirghani rivalry or the Two Sayyids rivalry, was a sectarian division in Sudan that shaped the country's political landscape after the end of the Mahdist State in 1899 and until the Kizan era in 1989.