Four Governments in Three Years as Civil War Escalates
Fresh
elections were held in mid-1965, and the anti-south Muhammad Mahgoub
formed a two-party coalition as its Prime Minister. Barely a month
after assuming power, Mahgoub ordered the army to use all the means at
its disposal to quell the perennial rebellion in the south. Troops
directed their operations on civilians, killing many of them.
On their part, the Anyanya escalated the war and even set up their, own
southern government headed by Col. Joseph Lagu. The Anyanya government
collected taxes, customs duties, trading fees, and set up prisons,
courts, medical facilities and even schools. These operated in thick
forests where many southerners hid.
The Mahgoub government suffered setbacks in the north as well. Inter-
and intra-party squabbles beset his government. Towards the end of
1965, the government banned the Sudanese Communist Party. Mahgoub's own
party itself was beset by internal wrangling and it split into two
factions. The coalition then began to be strained by inter-party
disagreements.
In July 1966, Mahgoub resigned and Sadiq al-Mahdi replaced him as Prime
Minister; and the coalition continued. A year later, the Prime Minister
faced defeat in Parliament and resigned; and Mahgoub hopped back to his
former job. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Sudan severed formal
diplomatic relations with the United States and Britain, and forged
close relations with the Soviet Union and other Communist countries.
Other elections were held in 1968 and Prime Minister Mahgoub headed a
new two-party coalition. Soon thereafter, inter-coalition squabbling
emerged and threatened the rule of Mahgoub. Economic problems and the
perpetual civil war in the south compounded the new government's
troubles.
National Movements and New States in Africa