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sudan’s fRaGilE statE, 1956–1989 151

Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi. In the twentieth century his posthumous

son Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi set about transforming the followers of

Mahdism, known collectively as the Ansar, into a proto-nationalist

party. From the beginning the Umma party had a strongly anti-Egyptian

character (the latter was to be expected since it was Abd al-Rahman’s

father who had overthrown Egyptian rule in 1885) and until 1953 it

collaborated with Britain in its efforts to prevent union between Sudan

and Egypt. The Umma party’s wealth came largely from the family’s

estates where many Ansar worked for very little material reward, in

the knowledge that they were serving the movement. Many came from

the western and central areas of Sudan, where historical support for

Mahdism translated into electoral support for the Umma Party.

The Umma Party’s first rival, in the 1940s, was the Ashiqqa or Blood-

Brothers. The Ashiqqa was initially a small group of intellectuals who

took a pro-Egyptian position to win support in their struggle with the

British. They soon linked themselves with one of Sudan’s major Sufi

orders, the Khatmiyya, led by Ali al-Mirghani, a longstanding rival of the

Mahdist movement. From this alliance emerged the National Unionist

Party (later Democratic Unionist Party) generally referred to simply as

the Unionists. The Unionists were associated particularly with Sudan’s

merchant community, many of whom came from the northern and

eastern regions of the country, and who formed prominent groups in

many other urban centres throughout the country.

In northern Sudan at independence there were also smaller but

disproportionately influential ideologically-based parties. The Sudan

Communist Party relied on urban workers, especially in the railway

centre of Atbara; while an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood

also took root in Sudan from the late 1940s, especially amongst students

in schools and in the University of Khartoum.

The outlying regions of Sudan were less well represented in national

politics. The Umma and the Unionists were able to dominate the vote

of northern rural areas, but they showed comparatively little interest

in regional development, while simultaneously stifling efforts to form

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors regional parties. In southern Sudan there were no social equivalents

(www.riftvalley.net).