| 1989Sudanese coup d'état | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theSecond Sudanese Civil War | |||||||
 Omar al-Bashir (centre) andAbdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein (blue fatigue) in front of theRepublican Palace after the coup | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Sudanese Armed ForcesNational Islamic Front Supported by:  Libya[1] | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Ahmed al-MirghaniPresident of Sudan  Sadiq al-MahdiPrime Minister of Sudan |  Col.Omar al-BashirCoup Leader Hassan al-Turabi NIF Leader | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| 10,000–15,000 | ~100 officers | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
_location_map.svg)  Location within Sudan. | |||||||
Acoup d'état was carried out by theSudanese Armed Forces on 30 June 1989 against the democratically elected government of Prime MinisterSadiq al-Mahdi and PresidentAhmed al-Mirghani. The coup was led by military officerOmar al-Bashir who took power in its aftermath; he ruled the country for the next 30 years until he wasoverthrown in 2019.
In 1983, acivil war broke out between Sudan's central government and theSudan People's Liberation Army, and it was fought at great cost to the country's civilian population. In 1989 the number of civilian casualties that resulted fromfamine alone was estimated to be as high as 250,000.[2] By February 1989, a group of Sudanese Army officers presented an ultimatum to the incumbent Prime Minister,Sadiq al-Mahdi, in which they asked him to either end the war or give the military the means to end it, with Mahdi choosing the former.[2]
Mahdi's inability to put an end to the conflict in the months that followed, along with a crippled Sudanese economy, led to growing tension between him and the army officials.[2] His decision on 18 June to arrest a group of 14 military officials and 50 civilians, all of whom were accused of being engaged in a plan to overthrow the government and restore former PresidentGaafar Nimeiry to power, may have further motivated the coup, though Nimeiry himself denied having any involvement in the plot.[2]
On 30 June 1989, military officers under the command of then Brigadier Omar Hassan al-Bashir, with instigation and support from theNational Islamic Front (NIF),[3] replaced the Sadiq al-Mahdi government with theRevolutionary Command Council for National Salvation (RCC), claiming to be saving the country from the "rotten political parties."[4] That same day, Al-Bashir was declared head of state, Prime Minister, Defense Minister andCommander in Chief of the armed forces.[2] The newmilitary junta would consist of 15 military officers (reduced to 12 in 1991) and it was assisted by a civilian cabinet.
The coup put an end to the newly facilitated democratic system of government in Sudan, which was established in 1985,[5] and replaced it with atotalitarian regime led by Omar al-Bashir, which was responsible for a series ofwar crimes andhuman rights violations.[6][7][8] The support which the new Sudanese government received from the NIF, which would eventually lead it to receive support fromIran, enabled it to make large-scale arms purchases fromChina and theformer Soviet republics, which it used to step up the still on-going civil war in the south in an effort to end it with a military victory. Under the heavy influence of the NIF, the government also banned political parties, trade unions, and other "nonreligious institutions", imposed tight controls on the press as well as strict dress and behavior codes on women. More than 78,000 people werepurged from the army, police and civil administration, resulting in a thorough reshaping of the state apparatus.[9]
Al-Bashir has been held responsible for theDarfur Genocide by theInternational Criminal Court, which has sought hisextradition since 2008 on charges ofgenocide,war crimes, andcrimes against humanity.[10]
Al-Bashir's regime was removed from power inanother military coup on 11 April 2019.[11]
