Editing Gaafar Nimeiry (section)

==1980–1985==

===Second term as president===
[[File:Gaafar Nimeiry 1981.jpg|thumb|244x244px|Nimeiry in 1981]]
Nimeiry was one of only two [[Arab]] leaders (the other being [[Qaboos bin Said]] of [[Oman]]) who maintained close relations with [[Anwar Sadat]] after the [[Camp David Accords]] of 1978. He attended Sadat's funeral in 1981.

In 1981, Nimeiry, pressured by his Islamic opponents, began a dramatic shift toward [[Islamism|Islamist]] political governance and allied himself with the [[Muslim Brotherhood]]. In 1983, he declared an "Islamic revolution" and imposed [[Sharia|Sharia law]], throughout the country. Additionally, he attempted to have himself declared Imam of the Sudanese ummah, but failed.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Warburg |first=Gabriel R. |date=1990 |title=The Sharia in Sudan: Implementation and Repercussions, 1983-1989 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4328194 |journal=Middle East Journal |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=624–637 |jstor=4328194 |issn=0026-3141}}</ref> To show his dedication to Sharia, he poured $11 million worth of [[Alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] into the [[Nile]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ap |date=1983-09-25 |title=Alcohol Is Dumped in Nile |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/25/world/alcohol-is-dumped-in-nile.html |access-date=2022-12-13 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Meredith |first=Martin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/58791298 |title=The fate of Africa : from the hopes of freedom to the heart of despair : a history of fifty years of independence |date=2005 |publisher=Public Affairs |isbn=1-58648-246-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=357 |oclc=58791298}}</ref> The state-wide declaration of Sharia law alienated the predominantly [[Christianity|Christian]] and [[Animism|animist]] south. In violation of the Addis Ababa Agreement he dissolved the southern Sudanese government and reformed the administrative boundaries of the south into three smaller regions to correspond with the pre-1972 provinces that the south was governed under.<ref name=":0" /> This prompted the start of the [[Second Sudanese Civil War]]. In 1984 he declared a state of emergency, giving special powers to the military.<ref name="jessup" /> In 1985 Nimeiry authorised the execution of the peaceful yet controversial political dissident and Islamic reformist [[Mahmoud Mohammed Taha]] after Taha — who was first accused of religious sedition in the 1960s when Sudan's President was [[Ismail al-Azhari]] — had been declared an apostate by a Sudanese court.[[File:Gaafar Nimeiry DF-SC-84-10022.jpg|thumb|250px|Nimeiry arriving for a state visit in the US, 1983]]The alliance with the [[United States]] was strengthened under the administration of [[Ronald Reagan]]. American aid increased from $5 million in 1979 to $200 million in 1983 and then to $254 million in 1985, mainly for military programs. Sudan thus becomes the second largest recipient of US aid to Africa (after Egypt). The United states constructed four air bases to house Rapid Deployment Force units and a powerful listening station for the [[CIA]] near [[Port Sudan]].<ref name="MondeDiplo_1985_post_revolution" />

In 1984 and 1985, after a period of drought, several million people were threatened by famine, particularly in western Sudan. The government tried to hide the situation internationally.<ref name="MondeDiplo_1985_post_revolution" />

===Inflation===
Between 1980 and 1985, the [[Sudanese pound]] lost 80 percent of its value due to inflation and renewed civil war.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}

===1985 Revolution===
{{Expand section|date=October 2019|with=[[WP:RS|sourced]] information such as what citizens' organised or demographic groups were involved; what/where the strike and other civil disobedience occurred; repression from the authorities; who/when/where/how army officers reacted and decided on a coup; how the protestors reacted to the repression, detentions, rapes, deaths; what role the October 1964 Revolution played; with enough material this should be [[WP:SPLIT|split off into a full article]]|small=no|section=9}}
Political and economic discontent against Nimeiry had been growing for several years prior to 1985. According to a Sudanese individual interviewed by ''[[The New York Times]]'', who said that Nimeiry had "begun to alienate almost every sector of Sudanese society". Major complaints included the obligatory use of Islamic law throughout Sudan, which upset non-Muslims, especially in the southern part of Sudan, and price increases resulting from an economic austerity program implemented under pressure from the [[United States]] (US) and the [[International Monetary Fund]] (IMF).<ref name="NYT_1985_Pres_ousted" /> Price increases in late March 1985 were considered to be a major trigger factor for protests. Eight doctors', lawyers' and university lecturers' associations called for a protest on 3 April and a "general political strike until the abolition of the current regime". Massive demonstrations took place in Khartoum and around Sudan on 3 April. The general strike took place up to 6 April, when Nimeiry was deposed, with a high effectiveness in shutting down governance of Sudan. The use of massive [[civil disobedience]] that led to the coup d'état deposing Nimeiry from the presidency on 6 April is often referred to as the ''1985 Revolution'' that followed the Sudanese [[History of Sudan (1956–69)#October 1964 Revolution|October 1964 Revolution]].<ref name="MondeDiplo_1985_post_revolution" />

===Exile and return===
On 6 April 1985, while Nimeiry was on an official visit to the [[United States|United States of America]] in the hope of gaining more financial aid from [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], a [[1985 Sudanese coup d'état|bloodless military coup]] led by his defence minister General [[Abdel Rahman Swar al-Dahab]] ousted him from power. During the subsequent elections the pro-Islamist leader, [[Sadiq al-Mahdi]] was elected Prime Minister.

Nimeiry lived in exile in Egypt from 1985 to 1999, in a villa situated in [[Heliopolis (Cairo suburb)|Heliopolis]], [[Cairo]]. He returned to Sudan in May 1999 to a rapturous welcome that surprised many of his detractors. The next year, he ran in the presidential election against incumbent president [[Omar al-Bashir]], but did poorly, obtaining only 9.6% of the votes in elections that were boycotted by the Sudanese opposition and alleged to be rigged. In 2005, Nimeiry's party, the Alliance of the Peoples' Working Forces signed a merger agreement with the ruling [[National Congress Party (Sudan)|National Congress of Sudan]]. The National Congress negotiated an end to the [[Second Sudanese civil war]] that was signed in a [[Comprehensive Peace Agreement]] on 9 January 2005.

Nimeiry died of natural causes in his home in Omdurman on 30 May 2009. Tens of thousands turned up to his official funeral including members of Sudan's political forces that had opposed his rule. After Nimeiry's death in May 2009, former Revolutionary Command Council member Khaled Hassan Abbass was elected head of the Alliance of Peoples' Working Forces. Splits occurred amongst the supporters of Nimeiry with some endorsing the partnership with the National Congress and others alleging that the National Congress reneged on the merger agreement and did not properly implement it. The splinter groups formed the May Socialist Union which took part in the parliamentary elections in [[Sudan]] in 2010. Another group led by Professor Dr. [[Fatima Abdel Mahmoud]] set up the Sudanese Socialist Democratic Union Party as the successor party of the [[Sudanese Socialist Union]]. Abdel Mahmoud was the first woman cabinet Minister in Sudan in the 1970s, and the first Sudanese woman to contest the presidency in the [[2010 Sudanese general election|2010 Sudanese election]].