ABSTRACT
The politics of the post-Nimeiri Sudan bear curious resemblance to those of the 1960s, particularly the era of 1964–69 that preceded the coup detat of May 1969. The civil war which erupted for the second time in 1983 both resulted from and added to the political confusion—the product of a decade and half of an erratic regime. The imposition of the September laws of 1983, was perhaps one of the most conspicuous manifestations of political confusion and controversy in a multi-religious, multi-cultural country which spent most of its independent history searching for a suitable political system. The situation in its totality—rural-urban exodus, brain-drain, collapse of local security—created a state of social disorder resulting in a merciless and abrupt destruction of subsistence economies and traditional systems of social control in the countryside, and a horrific disfigurement of the urban socio-economic structures.
