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Sudan
The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ended after Sudan's parliament unanimously declared independence on 19 December 1955, choosing full sovereignty over union with Egypt.
- Independence
- January 1, 1956
- Before
- Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
- Metropole
- United Kingdom
- Leader
- Ismail al-Azhari
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Graduates' General Congress; National Unionist Party (NUP); Umma Party
“The Sudanese House of Representatives yesterday passed a Declaration in favour of independence, and requested the Co-domini to recognise this Declaration forthwith.”
— Harold Macmillan, British Foreign Secretary, December 20, 1955
The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, 1899
After the defeat of the Mahdist state at Omdurman in 1898, the Condominium Agreement of January 19, 1899 placed Sudan under joint British and Egyptian sovereignty; in practice it was run by a British Governor-General and administration. Britain governed the north and south very differently. Under the 'Southern Policy', formalised in 1930, northern traders and the Arabic language were restricted in the south, which was left largely to missionaries and received little investment, deepening a divide that would shape the country's future.
Nationalism and the Question of Union with Egypt
Organised nationalism grew from the Graduates' General Congress, founded in 1938 by educated Sudanese. It split between unionists led by Ismail al-Azhari and backed by the Khatmiyya order, who sought union with Egypt, and the Umma Party (1945), patronised by Abd al-Rahman al-Mahdi, which demanded full independence. After Egypt's 1952 revolution, the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement of February 12, 1953 granted Sudan self-government and a transition of up to three years before self-determination.
From Self-Government to Independence, 1953–1956
Al-Azhari's National Unionist Party won the elections of late 1953, and he became prime minister in January 1954. In office, and amid growing popular support for independence, he abandoned union with Egypt. In August 1955 a mutiny of southern soldiers at Torit exposed southern fears of northern domination. On December 19, 1955, parliament unanimously declared independence, bypassing the slower self-determination procedure, and the Republic of the Sudan came into being on January 1, 1956.
Chronology
- January 19, 1899 — Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement signed
- 1938 — Graduates' General Congress founded
- February 12, 1953 — Anglo-Egyptian Agreement on self-government and self-determination
- January 1954 — Ismail al-Azhari becomes the first Sudanese prime minister
- August 18, 1955 — Torit mutiny in the south
- December 19, 1955 — Parliament unanimously declares independence
- January 1, 1956 — Republic of the Sudan comes into being
Aftermath
The Torit mutiny is often seen as the start of the first Sudanese civil war (1955–1972), rooted in north–south inequalities entrenched under the Condominium. Al-Azhari lost office in July 1956, and General Ibrahim Abboud seized power in November 1958. A second civil war (1983–2005) ended in a peace agreement that led to South Sudan's independence on July 9, 2011.
Legacy
Sudan's independence was overshadowed by the unresolved north–south divide, which led to decades of devastating civil war and the secession of South Sudan in 2011. The early choice of full independence over union with Egypt nonetheless set a lasting pattern of Sudanese self-assertion in the Nile Valley.