The Rise and Fall of Sudan's Al-Ingaz Revolution: The Transition from Militarised Islamism to Economic Salvation and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement

Abstract

Following the secession of South Sudan, Northern Sudan finds itself at a crossroads. Governed since 1989 by the Al-Ingaz regime, Khartoum's political elites are under pressure from the international community and the ordinary Sudanese people to democratise and ditch the autocratic Islamism that has been their hallmark for decades. Omar Al-Bashir and Ali Osman Taha face fierce criticism for presiding over the break-up of Africa's biggest country. Simultaneously, key constituencies in the security services and business community are signalling discontent too, lobbying instead for a further centralisation and the abandonment of the grudging liberalisation that started after Hassan Al-Turabi's removal from power in 1999–2000. Based on interviews with key movement and party members, this article assesses to what extent the Comprehensive Peace Agreement has changed the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Harakat Al-Islamiyya. It examines the internal dynamics within Khartoum's power bloc and argues that the current regime has in many ways become, ‘Al-Ingaz without its Islamic soul’, dixit one senior Islamist. Despite Bashir's controversial speech in Gedarif in December 2010, during which he called for Sharia and an end to multiculturalism in Northern Sudan, NCP ideologues are eyeing a strategic redeployment of political capital and economic investment, seeking to become an ordinary hegemonic party.