Ibrahim Abboud

General Ibrahim Abboud
إبراهيم عبود
Official portrait, 1958
1st President of Sudan
In office 17 November 1958 – 16 November 1964
Preceded by	Sovereignty Council
Succeeded by	Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa (Acting)
3rd Prime Minister of Sudan
In office 18 November 1958 – 30 October 1964
President	Himself
Preceded by	Abdallah Khalil
Succeeded by	Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa
Personal details
Born	(1900-10-26)26 October 1900 Suakin, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Died	8 September 1983(1983-09-08) (aged 82) Khartoum, Democratic Republic of Sudan
Military service
Allegiance	Egypt United Kingdom Sudan
Branch/service	Egyptian Army Sudan Defence Force Sudanese Army
Years of service	1918–1925 (Egypt) 1925–1956 (UK) 1956–1964 (Sudan)
Rank	General
Battles/wars	North African campaign 1948 Palestine war

General Ibrahim Abboud (Arabic: إبراهيم عبود; 26 October 1900 – 8 September 1983) was a Sudanese political figure who served as the head of state of Sudan between 1958 and 1964 and as President of Sudan in 1964; however, he soon resigned, ending Sudan's first period of military rule.^[1] A career soldier, Abboud served in World War II in Egypt and Iraq.^[2] In 1949, Abboud became the deputy Commander in Chief of the Sudanese military.^[2] Upon independence, Abboud became the Commander in Chief of the Military of Sudan.^[2]

Ibrahim Abboud was born 26 October 1900 in Mohammed-Gol, near the old port city of Suakin on the Red Sea. He trained as an engineer at the Gordon Memorial College and at the Military College in Khartoum. He received a commission in the Egyptian Army in 1918 and transferred to the Sudan Defence Force in 1925, after its creation separate from the Egyptian army. During World War II he served in Eritrea, in Ethiopia, with the Sudan Defence Force, and with the British Army in North Africa. After the war, Abboud commanded the Camel Corps,^[3] and then rose rapidly to commander of the Sudan Defence Force in 1949 and assistant commander in chief in 1954.^[4] With the declaration of independence for the Sudan in 1956, he was made commander in chief of the Sudanese military forces.^[5] After the Sudanese army staged a coup d'état in November 1958, overthrowing the civilian government of Abdallah Khalil, Gen. Abboud led the new military government. Philip Agee alleged that CIA engineered the 1958 coup in In the Company.

Between 1956 and 1958, Sudanese nationalist leaders from both major parties sought to find solutions to the seemingly intractable problems of building a nation, developing the economy and creating a permanent constitution. Neither Ismail al-Azhari, leader of the Nationalist Unionist Party and the first Prime Minister of Sudan, nor his rival, Abdallah Khalil, the Umma party leader and successor to al-Azhari as prime minister, was able to overcome the weaknesses of the political system or to grapple with the country's problems. Parliamentary government was so discredited that Gen. Abboud, who formerly had remained studiously aloof from politics, led a coup d'état on 17 November 1958, to end, in his words, "the state of degeneration, chaos, and instability of the country." The Council of State and cabinet were dismissed, parliament and all political parties were declared dissolved, and the constitution was suspended.^[6]