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Ibrahim Abboud (; 26 October 1900 – 8 September 1983) was a Sudanese military officer and political figure who served as the head of state of Sudan between 1958 and 1964 and as President of Sudan in 1964; however, he soon resigned, ending Sudan's first period of military rule. Biography of El Ferik Ibrahim Abboud at bookrags.com A career soldier, Abboud served in World War II in Egypt and Iraq. (1972). 9780900362484, Europa Publications. ISBN 9780900362484 In 1949, Abboud became the deputy Commander in Chief of the Sudanese military. Upon independence, Abboud became the Commander in Chief of the Military of Sudan.
Between 1956 and 1958, Sudanese Nationalism leaders from both major parties sought to find solutions to the seemingly intractable problems of building a nation, developing the economy and creating a permanent constitution. Neither Ismail al-Azhari, leader of the Nationalist Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Sudan, nor his rival, Abdallah Khalil, the Umma party leader and successor to al-Azhari as prime minister, was able to overcome the weaknesses of the political system or to grapple with the country's problems. Parliamentary government was so discredited that Gen. Abboud, who formerly had remained studiously aloof from politics, led a coup d'état on 17 November 1958, to end, in his words, "the state of degeneration, chaos, and instability of the country." The Council of State and cabinet were dismissed, parliament and all political parties were declared dissolved, and the constitution was suspended.
Although Abboud dealt with the important economic problems and improved foreign relations, he made little attempt to capitalize on his successes to forge a political following outside the army. His political independence certainly enabled him to act decisively, but his actions frequently alienated large segments of the population, which his government ultimately needed to remain in power without resort to force. He sought to meet demands of the population for increased participation in government by instituting a system of local representative government and the "erection of a central council ... in a pyramid with the local councils as a base." The creation of such councils clearly shifted power to the rural areas, whose Conservative would counter complaints from the more liberalism urban critics who were becoming increasingly frustrated by increasingly arbitrary administration.
In non-Arabs, non-Muslim southern Sudan, however, the arbitrary rule of the military government produced a more negative reaction than in the north. Thus, the government's vigorous program of Arabization and Islamization in the south provoked strikes in the schools and open revolt in the countryside. Opposition to the government was met by force, and many southerners fled as refugees into neighbouring countries. By 1963 the conflict had escalated to a civil war in which the northern troops held the towns while the southern roamed the countryside. Abboud's forces were responsible for large numbers of deaths in Kodok, Yei and Maridi, and overall his government was responsible for the deaths of more Sudanese people than any other head of state until Omar al-Bashir. Finally, in August 1964, in a desperate attempt to find a solution to the enervating campaign in the south, Abboud established a 25-man commission to study the problem and make recommendations for its solution. When the commission, in turn, asked for public debate on the "southern question," the students of Khartoum University initiated a series of debates that soon turned into a forum for open criticism of all aspects of the administration. The government banned these debates, precipitating student demonstrations in which one student was killed. The situation rapidly deteriorated, and within two days the civil service and the transport workers were on strike. Demonstrations followed in the provinces. Rather than suppress the opposition by armed force and bloodshed, Abboud dissolved his government on 26 October 1964, and allowed the formation of a provisional cabinet under Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa to replace the Supreme Council. Abboud himself was forced to resign on 15 November in favor of a civilian provisional government, and he retreated into retirement, thus ending the Republic of the Sudan's first period of military rule.
Abboud lived in United Kingdom for several years and died in Khartoum on 8 September 1983, at the age of 82.
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