Qualla: 1969 Sudanese coup d'état

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At four in the morning on 25 May 1969, most of Khartoum was asleep. By the time the city woke, the country's generals were under arrest, key installations were held by young Free Officers, and Radio Omdurman was preparing to broadcast the names of the men who would rule Sudan for the next sixteen years. The listener learning this news over morning tea had no way to know what the change would mean. A short message. A new set of voices. Another Sudanese political era over, another beginning.

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: Thirteen Years, Five Governments

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Sudan had been independent for just over thirteen years when Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry's tanks rolled through the Khartoum-Bahri-Omdurman triangle. In that short span, the country had already cycled through enough governments to exhaust most constitutions. Ismail al-Azhari of the Na...

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: The Morning the Radio Changed

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

By 4 am on 25 May, key installations in the capital triangle had been occupied. Sudanese Army generals were under arrest. At 7 am, Radio Omdurman broadcast recorded speeches by Nimeiry and Babiker Awadalla, setting out the new government's plans. Later that morning came the names...

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: Arab Nationalist, Socialist, Everything

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Nimeiry's government pursued what it called a radical Arab nationalist and leftist program. Widespread nationalization of private property followed. The new regime also made its most consequential gesture toward the south: on 9 June 1969, barely two weeks after the coup, it decla...

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: Who Was in the Room

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Revolutionary Command Council's composition had been planned in advance, but expanded during the course of 25 May. While his fellow Free Officers secured key army units, Nimeiry quietly met with two officers who had voted against the coup at the Free Officers' April meeting: ...

1969 Sudanese coup d'état: From the Air

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

From altitude, Khartoum reveals itself at the hinge where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile - the Mogren, as Sudanese call the confluence. The three cities that make up the metropolitan area - Khartoum proper, Khartoum Bahri (North), and Omdurman on the west bank - form the arms...