SUMMARY
NDA (National Democratic Alliance), was a coalition of opposition groups uniting against the Government of Sudan. It formed in October 1989 in response to a military coup masterminded by Islamic extremists, which overthrew the Government of Sudan and replaced it with a military junta headed by President Omar el-Bashir on 30 June 1989.
The new military Government of Sudan brought in significant changes including banning political parties and enforcing strict Islamic legal codes. Consequently, political leaders were forced into exile, which enabled the NDA to unite all secular and sectarian groups opposed to the Government of Sudan into, originally, a non-militant umbrella opposition group. Its aim was to remove the military regime and set up a democratic system in Sudan. It adopted a “Charter to Protect Democracy” and as part of this new democratic system, people in the south of Sudan would have the right to a referendum on self-determination.
From its headquarters in Asmara, Eritrea and other branch locations abroad, the NDA tried politically to establish bases of support within Sudan. It was relatively loosely organized and composed of a variety of different entities opposing the new military regime, including civil society organizations and rebel groups. Within the alliance, groups included: the Democratic Unionist Party, Beja Congress, Sudan Alliance Force, the Communist Party, New Sudan Brigade, the SPLM/A, which joined in 1990 and the Umma Party, which remained a member until April 2000. The Government of Sudan used divide-and-rule tactics to deal with the NDA. This resulted in political fragmentation as NDA members engaged in separate negotiations with the Government of Sudan despite the NDA also beginning negotiations from the late 1990s. Consequently, after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 led to the departure of the SPLM/A from the NDA, the umbrella opposition group became essentially obsolete.
Until 1996, the NDA was a solely political platform but in September that year, it set up a joint military force from its membership after it became clear that the Government of Sudan would not negotiate with unarmed actors. Consequently, the NDA carried out armed activities as a coalition group but individual members of the NDA also continued to act upon their own initiative on several occasions, both during negotiations and when fighting against the government. In recognition of this, within UCDP data, only fighting taking place under the banner of NDA is included in the Government of Sudan – NDA dyad. Activities carried out by NDA group members independently are included in their respective conflict dyads, for example see Government of Sudan – SPLM/A.
The designated military wing of the NDA was organized under ex-military officers, who had joined after being removed from their positions during the 1989 military coup. These officers called themselves the Legal Command because of their claim to be the legitimate military commanders of the national military forces. However, many rank and file troops did not recognize their legitimacy c, Attempts to establish forces along the Sudan – Eritrea border by the Legal Command were not fruitful and the exact number of troops that were under NDA command was unclear. Nonetheless, the forces of individual group members included the SPLM/A, which had between 20 000 and 50 000 troops whilst the Sudan Alliance Force and Beja Congress both had 500 each, and New Sudan Brigade had 2000 troops. Although most of these troops fought under the command of their own group and not under the NDA banner, the substantial SPLM/A forces constituted 95% of NDA troops and made the Government of Sudan wary of the coalition group.
A Leadership Council led the NDA with Moulana al-Sayed Mohammed Osman al-Mirghani, the exiled leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, serving as President from 1995. General Abd-al Rahman Saeed served as Vice-President whilst senior member of the Umma Party, Mubarak al-Mirghani was secretary-general until late 1999, when he was suspended as a result of the Umma Party holding secret, independent negotiations with the Government of Sudan. The following year, he resigned when the Umma Party formally withdrew from the NDA and Fagan Amom became secretary-general of the executive branch. John Garang, leader of the SPLM/A represented the Unified Military Command of the NDA in the Leadership Council.
Competing regional interests over natural resources such as water, land and oil, as well as internal and regional politics fueled a complex environment where states were incentivized to weaken their neighbors by supporting the armed opposition groups of their counterparts. Within this climate, analysts seem to agree that the NDA and SPLM/A must have received support from the governments of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Uganda. Nonetheless, the accused governments rejected accusations from the Sudanese government that they provided military support to these groups. On one occasion the Government of Eritrea, did admit to supporting the opposition, but denied any military involvement. The SPLM/A supposedly used territory in Uganda in preparing an offensive as well. (There are speculations that the defense aid given to these countries by the US was aimed at indirectly supporting the Sudanese opposition). In 1999, the Government of Sudan claimed that Rwandan, Burundian and Ugandan officers had helped to plan an SPLM/A offensive, but this was dismissed by the SPLM/A as propaganda. There seemed to be no confirmation of the allegation.
