ChRonoloGy 323Ababa. Bashir visits Beijing and secures Chinese support
for oil development.
1996 Presidential elections, criticized as effectively single-
party, are held. Omar al-Bashir is elected for a term of five
years. Hassan al-Turabi becomes Speaker of the National
Assembly. Sudan’s nine regions are divided into twenty-six
states. Riek Machar signs a Peace Charter with Khartoum.
1997 The government signs the Khartoum Agreement with Riek
Machar and a number of other anti-Garang commanders.
The South Sudan Defence Force is formed. New national
constitution. Government declares a state of emergency in
Darfur. United States imposes a trade embargo on Sudan
and freezes government assets.
1998 Fighting between units of the SSDF in the western Upper
Nile oil fields. Kerubino Kwanyin Bol rejoins SPLA and
attacks Wau but is repulsed; later rejoins pro-government
militia of Paulino Matip. Khartoum is implicated in the
bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es
Salaam. United States launches cruise missile attack on the
Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum North, claiming it
is making components of chemical weapons.
1999 New Sudan Council of Churches organizes peace meeting
between Dinka of Bahr al-Ghazal and Nuer of western
Upper Nile at Wunlit, in Warrap State. Pipeline to Port
Sudan completed and oil exports begin. Kerubino Kuanyin
Bol is killed in internecine strife. Omar al-Bashir declares
a state of emergency and dissolves parliament, sidelining
Hassan al-Turabi.
2000 Riek Machar resigns from government in Khartoum. The
Black Book, written by disaffected Darfurians alleging
regional discrimination by successive governments,
circulates in Khartoum. The NDA launches an offensive
against the Khartoum government in the Kassala and
Hamesh Koreib areas of eastern Sudan.
2002 Riek Machar rejoins the SPLM. US support renews the
IGAD peace process. Warring parties agree to a ceasefire
in the Nuba Mountains. GoS and SPLM/A agree the
Machakos Protocol, which establishes overall frameworkThe Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors
(www.riftvalley.net).