Gaafar Nimeiry

Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry
جعفر محمد النميري
Nimeiry in 1974
Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council
In office
25 May 1969 – 12 October 1971
DeputyBabiker Awadalla
Preceded byIsmail al-Azhari (President)
Succeeded byHimself (President)
2nd President of Sudan
In office
12 October 1971 – 6 April 1985
Vice PresidentFirst Vice Presidents
Abel Alier
Mohamed Al-Baghir Ahmed
Abuelgasim Mohamed Hashim
Second Vice Presidents
Abdul Majid Hamid Khalil
Omar Muhammad al-Tayib
Preceded byHimself as the chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council
Succeeded byAbdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab
8th Prime Minister of Sudan
In office
28 October 1969 – 11 August 1976
PresidentHimself
Preceded byBabiker Awadalla
Succeeded byRashid Bakr
In office
10 September 1977 – 6 April 1985
PresidentHimself
Preceded byRashid Bakr
Succeeded byAl-Jazuli Daf'allah
Personal details
Born(1930-01-01)1 January 1930
Wad Nubawi, Omdurman, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Died30 May 2009(2009-05-30) (aged 79)
Omdurman, Sudan
Political party
Military service
Allegiance Sudan
Years of service1952–1985
Rank Field Marshal
Battles/warsFirst Sudanese Civil War
Second Sudanese Civil War

Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Gaafar Nimeiry, Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; Arabic: جعفر محمد النميري; 1 January 1930[2][3] – 30 May 2009[4]) was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President.[5]

A military officer, he came to power after a military coup in 1969. Establishing a one-party state, with his Sudanese Socialist Union as the sole legal political entity in the country, Nimeiry pursued socialist and Pan-Arabist policies and close collaboration with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. In 1971 Nimeiry survived a pro-Soviet coup attempt, after which he forged an alliance with Mao Zedong of China, and, eventually, with the United States as well.[4]

In 1972 he signed the Addis Ababa Agreement, ending the First Sudanese Civil War. In his last years in power he also adopted aspects of Islamism, and in 1983 he imposed Sharia law throughout the country, precipitating the Second Sudanese Civil War. He was ousted from power in 1985 and went into exile in Egypt. He returned in 1999 and unsuccessfully ran in the presidential elections in 2000.

  1. ^ Sudan: A Country Study "Role in Government" United States Library of Congress. Accessed on 10 September 2007.
  2. ^ "المشير. جعفر محمد نميري". Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  3. ^ Lentz, Harris M. (4 February 2014). Heads of States and Governments Since 1945. Routledge. ISBN 9781134264902.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference nyt was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Gaafar al-Nimeiry". The Telegraph. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2024.