316 thE sudan handbook1924 Anti-British demonstrations gather strength. The White
Flag League, founded a year earlier by Ali Abdel Latif,
organizes demonstrations in support of the unity of the
Nile Valley; the British repress the ‘1924 revolt’ by force
and expel Egyptian officers and officials from Sudan.
Increasingly hostile to the effendiya, the British rely more
heavily on tribal leaders and traditional authorities to
govern the country.
1925–6 Sennar Dam on the Blue Nile is completed and the Gezira
Cotton Scheme inaugurated.
1927 Promulgation of the Powers of Sheikhs Ordinance bestows
the same powers that were earlier granted to nomadic
sheikhs and tribal leaders on their sedentary counterparts
in a shift towards administration based on ethnic groups
rather than territorial units.
1930 Southern Policy, designed to limit the spread of Islam and
the Arabic language in the south, is introduced.
1936 Signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936, which allows
for the return of Egyptian forces and personnel to Sudan
and helps formalize and secure Britain’s strategic interests
in the Suez Canal at a time of Italian aggression in north-
east Africa.
1938 1,080 graduates of intermediate school gather in
Omdurman and establish the Graduates Congress,
appointing Ismail al-Azhari as its Secretary-General, to
represent and promote the interests of educated Sudanese.
1942 The Ashiqqa faction in the Graduates’ Congress send
a memorandum to the government containing twelve
demands, which includes the right to self-determination
for post-war Sudan. The government rejects the
memorandum.
1943 The government establishes the Advisory Council for
northern Sudan to divert attention from the Graduates’
Congress; the Ashiqqa, which by then has gained control
of the Graduates’ Congress, boycotts the Council. The
council is disbanded in 1948.
1945 Supporters of Sayyid Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi form the
Umma Party, under the Sayyid’s patronage, which calls for
The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors
(www.riftvalley.net).