DARFUR AND THE NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT

Two decades after the military coup of 1989, the precise role in it of the National Islamic Front (NIF) and its leader, Hassan al-Turabi, remained uncertain. Within days of asserting themselves, however, General Omar Hasan al-Bashir and his fellow officers began to defer to the ideology, policies, and personalities of the NIF, so that the effect of if not the impetus for the coup was its rapid accession to power. The timing of the coup, moreover, made it clear that the officers shared the NIF's rejection of any settlement with southern rebels that threatened the project of Arab-Islamic “Sudanization” that had long dominated Khartoum politics.

The new regime, therefore, took immediate steps not only to empower the NIF but also to scuttle the peace deal that al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) had all but signed. In addition to suspending the constitution, dissolving parliament, banning political parties, outlawing unions, and censoring the media, the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) denounced the deal and, after a pro forma meeting with rebel leaders in Addis Ababa, withdrew from its predecessor's commitments. The regime produced proposals of its own, including a federal constitution under the shariʿa, but no one was taken in, and the fighting resumed. Moreover, early steps were taken to expand the war, including adoption of ever more apocalyptic rhetoric.