Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 31)
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- Democratic Palestine : 35 (ص 31)
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I
the SPLA now is in control of most of
the southeast parts of the country and
has captured 16 government garrisons
in the last year alone.
NIMEIRI’S FOILED COUP
ATTEMPT
Egypt not only played an essential
role in the June 30th coup, but also
played a role, directly or indirectly, in
the foiled June 19th coup attempt. On
Sunday, June 18th, 80 military persons,
including 14 army officers, and 148
civilians loyal to Nimeiri were arrested
after a coup plot was discovered.
Gaafar Nimeiri, the former Sudanese
dictator, denied claims by Mahdi’s
government that he had anything to do
with the coup attempt, but the facts
speak otherwise. Promptly after the
foiled coup attempt, Nimeiri left Egypt
for the first time since his deposition.
He travelled to London and said from
there that he would travel to an African
country near Sudan, where he would
plot his return. In addition, Nimeiri
had given a series of interviews in Cairo
in early June, stating that he would
return to power within a two to four
week period.
Mahdi stated that Nimeiri, the
Democratic Palestine, October 1989
Islamic National Front and Moslem
Brotherhood leader, Hassan Al Turabi,
who incidentally refused to participate
in Mahdi’s government, were the forces
behind the coup attempt. But to delve
deeper, it is apparent that Egypt,
critical of Mahdi’s government, had
given Nimeiri the green light to return,
breaking its promise to Sudan not to
allow Nimeir i to be politically active in
Egypt.
As for the connection to the June
30th coup, whether Nimeiri had a role
in it or not, Bashir is basically follow-
ing the Nimeiri line, particularly the
undemocratic form of rule and foreign
policy stances.
THE SOUTHERN WAR
The six-year-old civil war in the
South is one of the major problems
facing Sudan. The Sudan People’s
Liberation Army (SPLA) began the war
against Khartoum in 1983, after
Nimeiri imposed sharia (Islamic law)
on the whole country. From Sudan’s 25
million people, the northern majority
are Moslem, but the southerners, who
are one-third of the population, prac-
tice animism or Christianity. John
Garang and the SPLA have four con-
ditions before peace talks could pro-
gress to end the six-year-old war:
1) the abrogation of all military
treaties,
2) a cease-fire (which had already been
in effect for a while),
3) the lifting of Islamic law and any
substitute laws, and
4) the lifting of the state of emergency
which has been in effect since Nimeiri
was overthrown on April 26, 1985.
In addition to these demands, the
SPLA also calied for more autonomy,
and administrative and economic
reforms in the South.
The government of Mahdi had
abrogated a joint defense treaty with
Egypt and proclaimed a_ military
agreement with Libya null, fulfilling
the first SPLA condition.
In February of this year, Mahdi was
presented with an ultimatum from ar-
my officers that he either find a
political settlement to the civil war, or
give the military the means to seek a
battlefield victory. Mahdi subsequently
agreed to widen his government and
hold peace talks with the SPLA. Talks
were being carried out between Mahdi’s
>
Bashir and Mubarak
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