SUDANESE FOREIGN POLICY UNDER NIMEIRI, 1969-1982

There have been three distinctive phases of Sudanese foreign policy since the coup d'etat of May 1969.;A new period of Sudanese foreign policy was ushered in following an attempted coup d'etat by communist officers in July 1971. The period was characterized by one-man rule tempered by the major role in foreign policy of the new foreign minister. Foreign policy lost its ideological direction and was based on domestic concerns for economic development and the achievement and consolidation of a resolution of the southern Sudan conflict. In line with this pragmatic basis for foreign policy, the Sudan moved into a middle position between the two superpowers (though leaning towards the West), and cultivated good relations with the Arab and African "conservatives" without relinquishing good relations with its old "radical" friends in both regions. Particularly close ties were forged with non-aligned nations like the PRC and Yugoslavia.;Following a third major coup attempt in July 1976 the Sudan entered a period of distinctively one-man rule, with policy centered on a concern for regime security to the virtual exclusion of other factors. After 1976 there was growing reliance on Egypt and the United States for regime support. Although vacillating in its policy towards Egyptian-Israeli rapprochement, the demands of regime security, particularly after Libyan intervention in Chad, pushed the Sudan to follow the Egyptian line, even to the point of sharing Egypt's relative isolation in the Arab world. The Sudan moved clearly away from the "radical" states of the Arab world and Africa. As a consequence primarily of one-man rule, Sudanese foreign policy has become more personalized, less consistent, and less relevant to pressing domestic needs.;The first period, May 1969 through July 1971, was characterized by collegial decision-making under the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC). Foreign policy had a firm ideological base: the RCC members were strongly anti-imperialist, and most were Arab nationalists with close attachment to Nasser's Egypt. The Sudan developed close ties with the Soviet bloc, and the "radical" nations of the Arab world and Africa.