Sudan
Sudan, 1956 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. On 1 January 1956, Sudan was declared an independent state. Between 1989 and 2019, a military dictatorship led by Omar al-Bashir ruled Sudan with the National Congress Party (NCP) and committed widespread human rights abuses, including torture, persecution of minorities, alleged sponsorship of global terrorism, and ethnic genocide in Darfur from 2003-2020. Since 2023, Sudan has been embroiled in a third civil war, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Seat of power: Khartoum
Rulers
Ibrahim Abboud
Prime Minister of Sudan, 1958–1964
He served as the head of state of Sudan between 1958 and 1964 and as President of Sudan in 1964; however, he soon resigned, ending Sudan's first period of military rule.
Portrait of Ibrahim Abboud: Unknown author, Public domain, file
Ismail al-Azhari
President of Sudan, 1965–1969
He served as the first Prime Minister of Sudan between 1954 and 1956, and as Head of State of Sudan from 1965 until he was overthrown by Gaafar Nimeiry in 1969.
Portrait of Ismail al-Azhari: Unknown (probably cropped), Public domain, file
Sadiq al-Mahdi
Prime Minister of Sudan, 1966–1967
Sadiq al-Mahdi was Prime Minister of Sudan on two occasions: first briefly between 1966 and 1967 and second from 1986 until his ousting on 30 June 1989.
Portrait of Sadiq al-Mahdi: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Babiker Awadalla
Prime Minister of Sudan, 1969–1969
He was Prime Minister of Sudan from 25 May 1969 to 27 October 1969.
Portrait of Babiker Awadalla: Unknown - likely official photographer, as used as official photo in pamphlets advertising 1969 coup, Public domain, file
Gaafar Nimeiry
President of Sudan, 1969–1985
He served as the head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President. Nimeiry came to power after leading a military coup in 1969. He established a one-party state, with his Sudanese Socialist Union (SSU) acting as the sole legal political entity.
Portrait of Gaafar Nimeiry: Unknown, Public domain, file
Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab
President of Sudan, 1985–1986
He served as the Head of State of Sudan from 6 April 1985, to 6 May 1986.
Portrait of Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab: Unknown Military Photographer, Public domain, file
Sadiq al-Mahdi
Prime Minister of Sudan, 1986–1989
He was head of the National Umma Party and Imam of the Ansar, a Sufi order that pledges allegiance to Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic saviour of Islam.
Portrait of Sadiq al-Mahdi: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Ahmed al-Mirghani
President of Sudan, 1986–1989
He served as the third President of Sudan from 1986 to 1989, when the democratically elected government was overthrown by a military coup led by Omar al-Bashir.
Portrait of Ahmed al-Mirghani: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Omar al-Bashir
Head of state, 1989–2019
He served as head of state of Sudan under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers supported by National Islamic Front (NIF) in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi. He was subsequently imprisoned, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges.
Portrait of Omar al-Bashir: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jesse B. Awalt/Released), Public domain, file
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Abdalla Hamdok
Prime Minister of Sudan, 2019–2022
He served as the 15th prime minister of Sudan from 2019 to October 2021, and again from November 2021 until his resignation in 2022.
Portrait of Abdalla Hamdok: Office of USAID Administrator, Public domain, file
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Abdel Fattah al-Burhan
Chairman of the Transitional Military Council, 2019–2019
Following the Sudanese Revolution in April 2019, he was handed control of the military junta, the Transitional Military Council. He served as chairman of the TMC until a draft constitutional declaration signed with civilians went into effect on 17 August and a collective head of state Transitional Sovereignty Council was formed on 21 August, also to be initially headed by al-Burhan.
Portrait of Abdel Fattah al-Burhan: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0, file
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Ahmed Awad Ibn Auf
Chairman of the Transitional Military Council, 2019–2019
He served as the head of state for one day from 11 April 2019 to 12 April 2019 after taking part in the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état.
Kamil Idris
Prime Minister of Sudan, 2025 to today
He has been the 16th prime minister of Sudan since 2025. He previously served as Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from 1997 to 2008 and as Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
Portrait of Kamil Idris: Press Information Department, Public domain, file
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Culture
- This exacerbated the rift between the Islamic North, the seat of the government, and the Animists and Christians in the South, who had already waged a civil war from 1955 to 1972.
- This eventually led to the independence of South Sudan in 2011. Sudan was the largest country in Africa until the secession of South Sudan, following the referendum.
- Protests erupted in 2018, demanding Bashir's resignation, which resulted in a coup d'état on 11 April 2019 and Bashir's imprisonment.
Picture
Khartoum is the capital and most populous city of Sudan, located at the confluence of the White Nile and the Blue Nile.
Image: Evon2023, CC BY-SA 4.0, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.