SUDAN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00826A003200170001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 2, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 1, 1966
• Content Type: REPORT

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SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
August 1966
OCI No. 1932/66
Cop3 N2 338
Current Intelligence Country Handbook
SUDAN
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
GROUP I
Excluded from auromarit
downgrading and
d.clofrificarian
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Current Intelligence Country Handbooks are designed to give the
reader ready access to the salient facts about a country and its main
current problems. They are not intended to provide comprehensive
basic intelligence on a country or to speak with the authority of
coordinated national intelligence. The information presented is the
best available to the Office of Current Intelligence as of the date at
the top of the page.
This material contains information affecting the national defense
of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of
which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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August 1966 SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
SUDAN
1. Political
The Republic of the Sudan is governed by a coalition cabinet,
dominated by the generally conservative Umma party, and through
a constituent assembly of elected representatives from the six pre-
dominantly Arab northern provinces. The Umma and its coalition
partner, the National Unionist Party (NUP), took over the reins of
government in June 1965 after several months of political chaos
which followed the demise of a six-year-old military regime.
The fall of the Abboud military junta in October 1964 caught the
more moderate, traditional, civilian political parties off guard. The
Sudan Communist Party, on the other hand, was well prepared for
such an opportunity and quickly organized the establishment of a
National Front government in which the Communists controlled a
majority of cabinet posts. The leftist government embarked on a
series of radical ventures, including active participation in supplying
Communist bloc arms to the rebel movement then active in the
northeast Congo.
By the spring of 1965, however, the moderates had managed to
reestablish their influence, and in the elections of April and May
1965 the Umma and NUP won an overwhelming majority of the
vote. The Communists captured 11 seats in the Assembly's special
elections for graduates. of secondary schools and universities, but in
December of that year, the party itself was proscribed. Since that
time, the active Communist threat has been minimal, although the
party maintains extensive influence in the trade union movement
and in university groups.
The civilians have, however, been unable to develop a stable gov-
ernment which might be able to solve the country's serious ethnic
and economic problems. The Umma-the political arm of the 4
million member Ansar politico-religious brotherhood-has been seri-
ously divided by controversies between the ultra-conservative and
strongly Islamic older party leaders and a younger, more progressive-
minded party group. The Umma prime minister chosen in July
1966, Sadiq al-Mahdi, heads the more progressive arm of the party,
but he is still subject to influence from the conservative Imam of
Ansar and his reactionary followers.
The NUP, the Umma's coalition partner, is an urban-based party
which has never developed a cohesive leadership. Although the
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM I
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SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM August 1966
party has remained in the coalition for more than a year, a large
faction is subject to influence from the left and could be lured into
an opposition role at any time.
Sadiq has expressed his hopes of solving the long-standing rebel-
lion in the country's negroid southern provinces, of stabilizing the
shaky economy, and of combating leftist influence in the trade union
movement. Continuing intra- government conflicts will, however,
make any such progress slow.
2. Economic
Although the Sudan possesses great resources in arable land and
animals for the size of its population, the economy is basically weak.
A preoccupation with political activity on the part of the nation's
leaders since they came to power in late 1964 has largely precluded
the initiation of effective economic development programs or any
expansion of the country's industrial sector.
The Sudan's dependence on cotton as a major source of government
revenue and private income constitutes a serious economic problem.
Expensive long-staple cotton, the first to be affected by a fall in
world demand, is the country's main crop. A poor yield or fluctu-
ation in the world market price is quickly reflected in both the
public and private economic sectors.
In addition, increased expenditures necessitated by the long drawn-
out military campaign against southern insurgents have created a
heavy drain on Khartoum's limited resources. The South itself con-
tributes almost nothing to the nation's economy, and even the lim-
ited trade and industry in that area have been at a standstill since
late 1964. The South has reverted to a subsistence economy as the
fighting has continued.
Although the output of goods and services in 1965 increased mark-
edly over 1964 because the cotton crop was almost 501>0 larger than
the previous year, the Sudan's difficulties in marketing its cotton have
caused financial strains. Foreign exchange holdings dropped to a
record low in 1965, and in early 1966 government borrowings from
the Bank of Sudan threatened to exceed the legal limit defined in
the Bank of Sudan Act of 1959. In the first half of 1966, however,
seasonal exports of cotton and receipt of some funds loaned by the
IBRD and Kuwait alleviated the situation somewhat. The outlook
for the Sudanese economy will probably not improve until political
stability permits the government to come to grips with the serious
economic problems confronting the nation.
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
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3. International Relations
The Sudan maintains an avowedly neutral foreign policy which is,
however, generally pro-Western. The country's primary foreign aid
ties have been with the West, although foreign trade is gradually
becoming more oriented toward Communist markets.
The Sudan is a member of the Arab League and of the Organization
of African Unity, but it has played a minor role in both organiza-
tions and, since the overthrow of the Communist-dominated regime
in March 1965, the government has attempted to avoid foreign en-
tanglements. The Sudan followed Egypt's lead in severing diplo-
matic relations with West Germany in early 1965 and the African
initiative to break with Great Britain in connection with the Rhodesian
crisis. Ties with Britain were, however, restored in early 1966.
Relations with Egypt remain a primary concern to any Sudanese
government. Despite a continuing Egyptian subversive effort to
strengthen the more radical minority parties to compete with the
Umma, the present regime has developed at least a semblance of
friendship with its more powerful northern neighbor.
Khartoum has diplomatic relations with the USSR, Communist
China, and several Eastern European nations. Relations with the
US have usually been cordial, although leftist politicians have at-
tacked the limited US aid program from time to time.
4. Subversion
The Sudan's primary subversive problem is the long-standing re-
bellion of separatist-minded negroid Sudanese in the three southern-
most provinces against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government.
The rebellion began in 1955 and insurgent activity has been wide-
spread since 1963. Most of the Sudan's 20,000-man army is tied down
in the anti-guerrilla campaign, but government forces control only
the larger towns and garrison areas in the south. The political situ-
ation is complex; five or more southern political parties claim to
represent southern opinion in negotiations with Khartoum. An abor-
tive round-table conference between northerners and southerners
was held in early 1965, but since that time the government has
usually chosen to deal with puppet southerners who command no
real following in the south, and the fighting has dragged on. Although
both the present civilian government and its predecessor have ex-
pressed intentions of finding a political solution to the problem,
mutual hatred between Arab and Negro and Arab resistance to more
than some token form of federation for the southern region will
preclude a settlement for the foreseeable future.
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM Sudan - 3
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SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM August 1966
The Sudan Communist Party (SCP), which dominated the transi-.
tional government in late 1964 and early 1965, has been proscribed,
but still dominates the trade union movement, student groups, and
many professional organizations. The quality of the membership of
the SCP is high, and, although small in comparison with the tradi-
tional parties, the Communists' organizational capabilities make them
a continuing threat to any moderate regime.
The SCP has been supported since early 1965 by the erratic lead-
ership of the pro-Egyptian People's Democratic Party (PDP), the po-
litical arm of the Khatmiyyah Brotherhood. The Khatmiyyah of the
northern and eastern Sudan have long competed with the Ansar, but
the sect has never constituted a cohesive political, force which could
successfully rival the descendants of the 19th century leader Mahdi
Mohammad Ahmad who make up the Ansar. The PDP has become
fragmented and factionalized and has played only a minor political
role since the return to civilian rule.
5. Ethnic Problems
The southern negroid dissident movement is a manifestation of a
mutual antipathy between north and south which has its roots in
the slave-trading days of the 19th Century. Approximately a third
of the Sudan's 13.9 million inhabitants are negroid Nilotic, Nilo-
Hamitic and Sudanic tribesmen, and almost a third more are of pre-
dominantly negroid stock. The rebellion has centered in the three
southern and almost exclusively negroid provinces, but inhabitants of
several border areas between North and South have threatened to
join the insurgent movement and have sympathized with the south-
ern cause. These include inhabitants of Darfur Province, who have
formed the Darfur Development Front as a political voice for recog-
nition of their non Arab status, as well as educated Nuba tribesmen
who have organized the Nuba Mountain Union with similar aims.
Chronology of Key Events
Early 1800s Arab slave traders from Egypt raid the Sudan.
1882
British occupy Egypt. Sudanese Mahdi Mohammad
Ahmad gains control of Kordofan Province.
The Mahdi captures Khartoum and kills Governor Gen-
eral Charles Gordon.
General Herbert Kitchener and an Anglo/ Egyptian mili-
tary force recapture Khartoum.
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1899-1955 As the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the country is adminis-
tered under the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium; in
practice, it is governed by British administrative offi-
cials.
1930s Independence movement begins to develop.
1947 First overt expression of Communist activity in the
Sudan.
1954 (January) Local self-government is implemented with a
British Governor-General still responsible for foreign
relations.
A parliament is established, and National Unionist Party
leader Ismail al-Azhari becomes prime minister.
1955 (August) Southern Sudanese dissidents break into open
revolt against domination by the Arab government
in Khartoum.
1956 (January) The Sudan achieves full independence. Al-
Azhari heads a government coalition which includes
the Umma party.
(July) Abdallah Khalil, leader of the Umma party, be-
comes prime minister and forms a new government
in coalition with the People's Democratic Party.
1958 (March) After the first national parliamentary elections
since independence, Khalil continues as prime min-
ister.
(November) A group of senior army officers seizes con-
trol in a bloodless coup and concentrates executive,
legislative and judicial powers in the Supreme Council
of the Armed Forces headed by Lt. Gen. Ibrahim
Abboud.
1963 Southern terrorist activity intensifies and ties up most
of the Sudanese army.
1964 (October) Civilian pressures force the abdication of the
Abboud junta; first transitional government dominated
by the Sudan Communist Party and its sympathizers,
is formed.
1965 (February) The Umma and National Unionist parties
force resignation of the first transitional regime, es-
tablish a non-Communist second transitional cabinet,
and begin preparations for early elections.
(April/May) Elections for geographical constituencies in
a Constituent Assembly are held in the six northern
provinces, in which the Umma and NUP win a sub-
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM Sudan - 5
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SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM August 1966
1965 stantial majority. Dissidence in the three southern
provinces forces an indefinite postponement of elec-
tions there.
(June) Elections are held for 15 seats in the Assembly
for graduates of secondary schools and universities.
The Umma and NUP form a coalition government.
(December) Muslim pressures lead the Constituent As-
sembly to proscribe the Sudan Communist Party.
1966 (July) Umma party president Sadiq al-Mahdi assumes
premiership, replacing his Umma colleague Moham-
med Mahjoub.
Selected Factual Data
LAND (U)
967,000 sq. mi.; 37% arable (3% cultivated), 11% grazing, 33,70
desert, waste, or urban, 19'/: forested
PEOPLE (Confidential)
Population: 13.9 million; males 15-49, 3,136,000; 1,110,000 fit for
military service; average number currently reaching military
age (18) annually, 135,000
Ethnic Divisions: 39% Arab, 9% Beja, Nubian jr north, 48%
Negroid elements in south, 4% other
Religion: 73% Sunni Muslims in north, 27% mostly pagan and some
Christians in south
Language: Arabic, Nubian, Ta Bedawie, diverse dialects of Nilotic,
Nilo-Hamitic and Sudanic languages, English; intense program
of Arabization in process
Literacy: 5%-10%
Labor force: 3.8 million; 85% agriculture, 15% industry, com-
merce, services, etc.; labor shortages exist (1962) for almost all
categories of employment
GOVERNMENT (Secret-No Foreign Dissem)
Capital: Khartoum
Regional breakdown: 9 provinces, provincial and local administra-
tions controlled by central government
Type: republic
Branches: 15 portfolio-cabinet, coalition of Umma md National
Union parties under Umma prime minister Mohamried Mahjoub;
Supreme Council under permanent chairmanship of NUP leader
Ismail al-Azhari functions as chief of state; local and provincial
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August 1966 SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
administrative officials responsible to cabinet through Ministry
of Local Government
Government leader: Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi
Suffrage: universal adult
Elections: parliamentary elections, the first after 6 years of military
rule held in April and May 1965 in six northern provinces; elec-
tions in three southern provinces postponed indefinitely due to
widespread insurgency
Political parties and leaders: all parties legal since Oct. 1964, with
exception of Communist Party which was proscribed in Dec.
1965; Umma Party (President-Sadiq al-Mahdi) is political arm
of traditional Ansar religious brotherhood; National Union Party
is primarily an urban group; People's Democratic Party (Presi-
dent-Sayyid Ali Abd-al-Rahman) is allied with Khatmiyyah re-
ligious brotherhood; Negroid southerners represented by various
southern parties, some of which operate from exile in neighbor-
ing black African countries
Voting strength: not tabulated by party
Communists: 5-10,000; several thousand sympathizers; with sup-
porters, obtained dominant position in Oct. 1964 transitional gov-
ernment and hastily formed national front organization; now con-
trol 9 representatives in the constituent assembly (total member-
ship 176); main strength in labor unions, some professional as-
sociations and university student groups
Other political or pressure groups: SANU has agitated for southern
separatism and carried on terrorist activity in the three negroid
southern provinces since 1963
Member of: U.N. (IAEA, IBRD, ILO, IFC, IDA, IMF, ICAU, ITU,
UPU, WMO), Arab League, OAU
ECONOMY (Secret-No Foreign Dissem)
GDP: US$1,176 million (1963-64), about $90 per capita
Agriculture: main crops-sorghum, millet, wheat, sesame, peanuts,
beans, barley; not self-sufficient in food production; main cash
crops-cotton, gum arabic
Major industries: cotton ginning, textiles, brewery, cement, edible
oils, soap, distilling, shoes, pharmaceuticals
Electric power: 59,000 kw. capacity (1963); 163 million kw.-hr. pro-
duced by public sector (1963)
Exports: US$196 million (1964); 50-60% cotton (long-staple), gum
arabic, peanuts, sesame; $25.3 million exports to bloc (1964)
SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM Sudan - 7
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Imports: US$267 million (1964); textiles, petroleum products, ve-
hicles, tea, wheat; $28.4 imports from bloc (1964)
Trade: main foreign trade partners: U.K., West Germany, Italy,
India
Aid: U.K., West Germany, Yugoslavia; bloc economic aid $33.0 mil-
lion extended through Dec. 1965; U.S. economic, $89.0 million
cumulative (1965); U.N., IBRD, IFC, IDA, $101.0 million ex-
tended through FY 1964
Exchange rate: 1 Sudanese pound _ US$2.87 (official)
Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June
COMMUNICATIONS (Confidential)
Railroads: 2,937 mi., all 3'6" gage; single track; government owned
Highways: 16,000 mi.; 132 mi. paved, 1,000 mi. otherwise improved,
14,868 mi. unimproved
Inland waterways: 932 mi.
Freight carried: rail-1.552 billion ton/km., (1960) 2.051 million
tons originated
Ports: 1 principal (Port Sudan)
Merchant marine: 4 cargo ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,262
CRT, 19,400 DWT
Civil air: 13 major transport aircraft
Airfields: 61 total, 51 usable; 4 with permanent-surface runways;
1 with runway 8,000-11,999 ft.; 24 with runways -1,000-7,999 ft.
Telecommunications: telephone service fair; telegraph and broad-
cast fair to good; 1 TV and 2 AM stations; 32,700 tErlephones
DEFENSE FORCES (Secret)
Personnel: army 20,000, navy 300, air force 500 (30 pilots)
Major ground units: 13 infantry battalions, 2 battalion-size regi-
ments (1 artillery, 1 armored), 1 engineer battalion, and support
troops
Ships: 4 patrol craft
Aircraft: 22 (10 jet)
Supply: produces small-arms ammunition; all other material im-
ported, primarily from U.K., but also from West Germany,
U.S.S.R., U.A.R., Algeria, and the Netherlands; motor gunboats
purchased from Yugoslavia
Military budget: for fiscal year ending 30 June 1960, $40,840,000;
about 12% of total budget:
8 - Sudan SECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM
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National Intelligence Survey (NIS) Material
The following sections of the NIS are relevant:
NIS Area 54 (Sudan)
Chapter I and the following specialized sections:
Sec 22 Coasts and Landing Beaches
See 23 Weather and Climate
Sec 24 Topography
See 25 Urban Areas
See 26 Analysis of Military Geographic Regions
Sec 31 Railway
Sec 32 Highway
Sec 33 Inland Waterway
Sec 35 Ports and Naval Facilities
Sec 37 Civil Air
Sec 41 Population
See 43 Religion, Education, & Public Information
Sec 45 Health and Sanitation
Sec 52 Structure of the Government
Sec 53 Political Dynamics
Sec 55 National Policies
Sec 61 Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry
Sec 62 Fuels and Power
Sec 91-94 Map and Chart Appraisal
Gazetteer
Map
The best available general reference map is: Shell Company of
Sudan, Ltd and Sudan Survey Department; Shell Motorists Map of
the Sudan; 1:4,000,000; 1962
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? ? International boundary
? National capital
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