Ibrahim Abboud - Abboud's Regime

Abboud's Regime

Abboud moved swiftly to deal with the Sudan's problems. The provisional constitution was suspended and all political parties dissolved. The price of Sudanese cotton was lowered, and the surplus from the crop of 1958 and the bumper crop of 1959 was sold, easing the financial crisis. An agreement was reached with Egypt concerning the division of the Nile waters, and although the Sudan did not receive as great an allotment as many Sudanese thought equitable, Egypt recognized the independence of the Sudan, and frontier conflicts ceased. Finally, in 1961, an ambitious 10-year development plan was launched, designed to end the Sudan's dependence on cotton exports and many foreign manufactured imports.

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 increased power to the rural areas, whose conservatism would counter complaints from the more liberal urban critics who were becoming increasingly frustrated by increasingly arbitrary administration.