The Sudanese Communist Party Massacre (2-3)
By Rashid Abdul Rahim
The Communist Party misread the sentiments of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), particularly the junior ranks, and also failed to grasp popular sentiment. Furthermore, it underestimated the positions of the world and neighboring countries regarding communism. Driven by blind arrogance, it moved to seize power.
The disaster that befell Hashim al-Atta’s coup stemmed from the lack of popular support and the rejection by privates and non-commissioned officers. This led to decisive internal action that ended the coup.
The international stance was also decisive against the coup. President Sadat and Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took a firm position early on.
The coup leaders, Lieutenant Colonel Babiker al-Nur and Major Farouk Othman Hamdallah, were in Britain, where they held a press conference. Babiker al-Nur spoke at the conference.
They then boarded a British Airways flight to Khartoum. The plane was intercepted by two Libyan fighter jets and forced to land in Benghazi, where Babiker al-Nur and Farouk Hamadallah were arrested and sent to Khartoum upon Nimeiri’s return.
On another front, a similar incident occurred. The coup was a jointly led by the communists and the Ba’athists, represented by Farouk Hamadallah.
On July 22nd, the Ba’ath leadership sent a party delegation to congratulate the coup leaders on seizing power.
The Iraqi delegation traveled on the same plane that had been allocated to Ba’ath leader Muhammad Suleiman al-Khalifa Abdullah al-Ta’aishi.
When the plane entered Sudanese airspace, their coup had already been thwarted. The plane was prevented from landing and, lacking sufficient fuel to return, it headed towards Jeddah Airport, where it crashed.
The head of the Revolutionary Command Council, Babiker al-Nur, and Council member Farouk Othman Hamdallah were tried in the al-Shajara military court, which also witnessed the trials of all the military and civilian leaders of the Communist Party. The party’s Secretary-General, Abdel Khaliq Mahjoub, and labor leader al-Shafi’i Ahmed al-Sheikh, husband of Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim, were executed.
Anger against the coup was palpable and evident within the leadership due to the overthrow of Nimeiri and the humiliation he and the members of the Revolutionary Command Council suffered while imprisoned in the Presidential Palace. Anger was also palpable among the general public because of the Guest House massacre, due to its brutality, the treachery with which it was carried out, and the cruelty displayed by their former comrades-in-arms.
The victims of the Guest House massacre came from most army units and from the highest to the lowest ranks.
The May regime exploited the massacre for propaganda purposes, and television and newspapers broadcast its details and gruesome images for several days, along with interviews with the victims’ families and acquaintances.
The Communist Party paid a heavy price and lost its historical leaders. After being known as the largest communist party in the region, it became a minor follower of parties that were less important and less experienced, and its voice was lost after it had been the maker of the street’s voice.
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