12 - The Destruction of Darfur

Summary

THE REVOLT

The NIF Split

From its first days in 1989, the true balance of power within the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime was unclear. Was General Bashir a stalking horse for the NIF, its public face, or its clever exploiter? Was Hasan al-Turabi the party ideologue, self-proclaimed “Guide,” power behind the throne, or imam-in-waiting? Or did both just strut and crow while a military strongman, Ali Uthman Muhammad Taha, ruled the roost? Whenever it seemed that the fog was clearing, something happened to stir confusion, at least in the public mind. Through it all, however, the determination of the generals to rule and the ability of Turabi to make trouble were constant themes. By the late 1990s, with multiple crises confronting the regime, it seemed that a shaking out was at hand.

While musings about personal precedence occupied Khartoum's chattering classes, the rest of the world said it wanted peace and stability in the Sudan. The disastrous war in the south, with its massive refugee crises, famines, and atrocities, and its spillover into neighboring states, had finally begun, unconscionably late, to attract sustained attention outside the region. The Sudan's official economy continued to teeter on the verge of collapse, awaiting the oil production that would save it and lubricate the regime's political relations with the international community. Thus, the recurring public displays of ferment, or petulance, within the NIF hierarchy exasperated the Sudan's neighbors and erstwhile partners, who would be happy with a military dictator of the traditional type but were repeatedly embarrassed by the mercurial Turabi.