The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Region of Sudan (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

: حزب البعث العربي الاشتراكي - وطن في السودان ''Ḥizb al-Ba‘th al-‘Arabī al-Ishtirākī - Waṭan fī al-Sūdān''), previously known as the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Country of Sudan, is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in Sudan. The party is the Sudanese regional branch of the Iraqi-led Ba'ath Party in Sudan. While the branch has always been small, accounting for an estimated 1,000 members in 2003, it has been able to have a bigger impact than what its meager membership numbers would suggest, mostly due to Iraqi financing of the branch. After collaborating with the Arab nationalist Sudanese government for years, the Ba'ath Party broke off relations and became an opposition party in 1990; this would have disturbed Iraq if Sudan had not supported it during the 1991 Gulf crisis. In 1990, the party was composed largely of students who had studied in Ba'athist Iraq. The party, which was small in 1990, was influential in certain sectors, and was opposed to the

National Islamic Front The National Islamic Front ( ar, الجبهة الإسلامية القومية; transliterated: ''al-Jabhah al-Islamiyah al-Qawmiyah'') was an Islamist political organization founded in 1976 and led by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi that influenced th ...

and was staunchly

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...

. Members have historically been torn between the Ba'ath and other secular party movements, such as the

Sudanese Communist Party The Sudanese Communist Party ( abbr. SCP; ar, الحزب الشيوعي السوداني, Al-Hizb al-Shuyui al-Sudani) is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence ye ...

. Despite Saddam Hussein's amicable relationship with the

Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation The Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation (RCCNS-Sudan) was the governing body of Sudan following the June 1989 coup. It grew out of the collaboration between the Sudanese military and the National Islamic Front. It was the autho ...

, the body ruling Sudan at the time, the Ba'ath branch was oppressed by the authorities. Later in 1990, 26 Ba'athi military officers were executed in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

after a failed military coup. In 2002, a group led by Mohamad Ali Jadein broke away from the branch and established the independent Sudanese Ba'ath Party, which has no affiliation with either the Iraqi or the Syrian-led Ba'ath Party. The following year, after the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, 80 Sudanese Ba'athists were allowed to return to Sudan under the condition that they would stay out of politics.

Leaders

*Kamal Bolad in 1989 *Taiseer Mutassir in 1990.

References

1970 establishments in Africa 1970 in Sudan Arab nationalism in Sudan Ba'athist parties Sudan Organisations of the Sudanese Revolution Political parties established in 1970 Political parties in Sudan Socialist parties in Sudan {{Africa-party-stub