The Sudan Handbook

kEy fiGuREs in sudanEsE histoRy, CultuRE & PolitiCs 331

al-Bashir and distanced himself from his former mentor. He negotiated

the final terms of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement with John Garang

and in January 2005 signed the agreement, as Vice-President of Sudan, on

behalf of the Government. Despite rumours that he has been sidelined

in the NCP, Taha was reappointed as Second Vice President of Sudan in

2010, a post he has held since 2005.

BabikR BEdRi (1861–1954). Educationalist and pioneer of education

for women. He was born in Atbara and grew up in Rufaa, in Blue Nile.

He joined the Mahdist army and took part in the siege of Khartoum and

the later unsuccessful invasion of Egypt. After the defeat of the Mahdists

in 1898, he left Omdurman and returned to Rufaa. In 1903 he founded a

primary school there and in 1906 he overcame opposition from conserva-

tive religious and traditional leaders to found Sudan’s first girls’ school.

He continued to promote education until his death in 1954. His efforts

helped paved the way for the first women’s university college, al-Ahfad,

built in 1966.

Al-Balabil (Ar. the nightingales). Musical trio. Nubian teenage sisters

• Hadia, Amal and Hayat – transformed the Khartoum music scene in the
  1970s, challenging conservative social attitudes to women’s involvement
  in the performing arts. The group parted company after the three sisters
  married, but they sang together again in Eritrea in 1997 and at the 2008
  Sudanese Festival of Music and Dance in Chicago and Detroit.

Bona MalWal Madut RinG (b. 1935). Politician and journalist. Born

in Gogrial County, son of a prominent Twic Dinka chief, Madut Ring, he

was the editor of the Southern Front’s newspaper, The Vigilant (1965–9),

until parties were banned and the paper closed after Nimeiri’s coup.

After the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement he joined the national Ministry of

Information and later became Minister of Information in Khartoum. He

was also Minister of Energy and Mining and later Minister of Finance in

the Southern Regional government of Abel Alier (dissolved by Nimeiri

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors in 1981). An opponent of the redivision of the south he was detained

(www.riftvalley.net).