October Revolution in Sudan

After gaining independence in 1956, Sudan faced many problems, especially economic difficulties and armed conflict in the south of the country. On November 17, 1958, a military coup took place in the country, during which a military junta led by General Ibrahim Abboud came to power. At first, the military government achieved significant results in the economic sphere, but at the same time the persecution of trade unionists and government employees continued. Gradually, the military government was becoming less and less able to solve fundamental economic and socio-political problems, including the problem of the South, which immediately affected its popularity.

In October 1964, student unrest began in the country. On October 21, during a student meeting at Khartoum University that discussed the issue of the South, the police came and beat those who were killed, resulting in nine students being injured and one, the Communist Ahmed Kurshi (Gurashi), died the next day from his wounds. This incident caused discontent among residents of the capital who attended a mourning rally in Abdel Moneima Square (renamed Gurashi Square). The Central Committee of the UPC called on all democratic forces of the country to go on a general strike against "police arbitrariness," which forced the government to impose a curfew in the capital the next day. By October 23, unrest swept Omdurman , Port Sudan , Atbara and Wad Medani . Returning from London, the Minister of the Interior ordered the troops to enter the capital, but taxi and truck drivers blocked the road, which prevented the troops from reaching the city center. In the following days, anti-government demonstrations and bloody clashes with police and arrests continued in the capital. Soldiers and officers began to express dissatisfaction with the attempts of the command to use the army to suppress unrest. On October 26, the infantry units of the Omdurman garrison moved to Khartoum and blocked the presidential palace. Under the pressure of unrest and the army, Abboud at 21 o'clock reported on the radio about the decision to dissolve the Air Force and concentrate all power in his hands.

This message caused a wide upsurge: in the evening of the same day, demonstrators attacked the Kuber and Az-Zanakin prisons, freeing political prisoners. The next day, a general political strike paralyzed economic and social activities in the capital and other cities. The United National Front (ONF) has published the National Charter, a struggle program compiled by professors at Khartoum University.

On October 28, at the call of the ONF in Khartoum, a demonstration began in support of the National Charter, during which police and presidential palace guards opened fire on protesters, resulting in the deaths of several dozen people. In response, opponents of the military regime responded by expanding the strike. Taxi stopped, radio, television, restaurants, airport stopped working. In this situation, Abbud dismissed Prime Minister Hassan Bashir Nasr and began negotiations with the ONF, ending on October 29 with an agreement on the resignation of the Air Force and the creation of a transitional government. A few days later, on November 8-9, General Abboud tried to overthrow the transitional government through a military coup, but the plot was uncovered, and Abbud was removed from the post of president of the country.

The October events resulted in the overthrow of the military regime and the formation of a government for the first time in Sudan’s history with the participation of representatives of major political trends.

• Gryadunov Yu. S. New horizons of Sudan. Domestic political development during the years of independence (1956-1967). - M.: Science, 1969.
• Voblikov D.R. Republic of Sudan: (1956 - May 1969). - M.: Science, 1978.