Gaafar al-Nimeiry, who died on May 30 aged 79, survived as ruler of Sudan for 16 years – a considerable tribute to his ability to trim his sails according to the vagaries of the political weather.

With friends like the United States, Gaafar Nimeiry hardly needed the enemies who ousted him as the president of the Sudan this month.Since the Sudan coup April 6, much has been made of Nimeiry`s ...

President Gaafar Nimeiry said Sunday that Ethiopian Jews and all other refugees living in Sudanese camps were free to leave the country, provided they do not go directly to Israel. ”If they c… ...

After more than 20 months of fighting across Sudan, nearly half the country's population entering a worsening food shortage crisis. Inexpensive and easy to implement, starvation is a weapon being ...

But it didn’t last forever: by 1985, Sudanese dictator General Gaafar Nimeiry was toppled by a coup and the remaining Israelis were evacuated from the resort.

Abdulrahman Siwar al-Dahab, who led the removal of Gaafar Nimeiry in 1985, died at a military hospital in Riyadh.

It was abolished soon after President Gaafar Nimeiry took office in 1983, which, in turn, resulted in the Second Sudanese Civil War until 2005, when the region was restored, then gained ...

That was how events unfolded in 1985, the year of Sudan’s previous democratic revolution, which led to the overthrow of Gaafar Nimeiry and elections soon after.

Sudanese military officers carry the body of former president Gaafar Nimeiry during his funeral procession in Omdurman, Khartoum’s twin city, on May 31, 2009 (Getty) ...

1969 - Colonel Gaafar Nimeiry carries out a coup. Parliament and political parties are abolished. 1983 - Numeiry introduces Sharia Islamic law. 1983-2005 - Second Sudanese Civil War.

Gaafar al-Nimeiry, who died on May 30 aged 79, survived as ruler of Sudan for 16 years – a considerable tribute to his ability to trim his sails according to the vagaries of the political weather.