Gaafar Nimeiry

Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (also spelled Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; Arabic: جعفر محمد النميري, romanized: Jaʿfar Muḥammad an-Numayrī; 1 January 1930 – 30 May 2009) was a Sudanese military officer, politician, and revolutionary who served as the head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President.

A devout Muslim and military officer, Nimeiry came to power after leading a military coup in 1969. He established a one-party state, with his Sudanese Socialist Union (SSU) acting as the sole legal political entity. He began his rule as a left-wing admirer of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, pursuing socialist and Pan-Arabist policies. However, after surviving a communist-backed coup attempt in 1971 – with the crucial intervention of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi – Nimeiry systematically smashed both leftist and religious insurrections. He drastically shifted his policies to the right, breaking ties with the Soviet Union to forge new relations with Mao Zedong's China and ultimately becoming a close ally of the United States.