Nimery, Jaafar Muhammad al-

Nimery, Jaafar Muhammad al- 

Born 1930, in Omdurman. Statesman of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. General.

Born into a petit bourgeois family, al-Nimery graduated from a Sudanese military college in 1952. He later continued his military studies in the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States and received a master’s degree in military science. He was a leader of the Free Officers, an underground organization created within the army around 1964. On May 25, 1969, al-Nimery led a group of officers in a coup d’etat. From 1969 to 1971 he served as chairman of the Revolutionary Council, prime minister, and commander in chief of the armed forces. In October 1971, al-Nimery became president of the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. He has also served as chairman of the Sudanese Socialist Union since January 1972. Until August 1976, he was also prime minister (from October 1971), minister of defense (from May 1973), and general secretary of the Sudanese Socialist Union (from January 1972).