ABSTRACT
Introduction Sudan, in the period under review, has had a rainbow of governments ranging from military dictatorship to divisive and irresolute civilian governments. During 1953-58 and 1965-69, the Sudan experimented with Westminster style democracy, while between 1958-1964 the country was ruled by a naked military dictatorship. It is to the examination of these experiments and their role in war and peace that the present chapter turns. Far much more abiding than ideology and other aspects that distinguish political parties in other geographical planes, Sudanese parliamentary democracy was indelibly marked by personal, factional and sectarian rivalries of a mind-boggling insensitivity and magnitude. It was these senseless rivalries, probably more than any other factor that had played a leading role in perpetuating conflict and destroying democracy.
