Hassan al-Turabi
Hassan al-Turabi (1 February 1932 – 5 March 2016) was a prominent Sudanese political figure and scholar, widely regarded as the key figure behind the 1989 military coup that ousted Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and brought genocidal General Omar al-Bashir to power. Often described as one of the most significant and influential figures in modern Sudanese politics, al-Turabi was a staunch advocate for hardline Islamic ideology and played a central role in the establishment of Sharia law in Sudan. His political career was marked by frequent imprisonments, though these were often interrupted by appointments to high-ranking governmental positions, reflecting his considerable influence in Sudanese affairs.
Turabi, inspired by the thinking of Islamic revivalists such as Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi, sought to refashion Sudan as an Islamist state.[1]
Omar al-Bashir and Hassan al-Turabi to “Islamize” and “Arabize”[2][1] the Great Lakes region.
Turabi is best known today for his association with Osama bin Laden, who moved his base of operations to Khartoum from 1992 to 1996 at Turabi’s invitation.[1][3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The “Central African” Jihad: Islamism and Nation-Building in Mozambique and Uganda.
James Barnett. The Hudson Institute. Oct 29, 2020.
Current Trends in Islamist Ideology.
Previous Ugandan dictators such as Milton Obote and Idi Amin had exploited religious fissures to their advantage. The latter had politicized his Islamic faith as a means of shoring-up his regime domestically and soliciting support from Arab and Islamist states such as Libya...
Sudan had been battling an insurgency in its south led by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) since 1983. Religious divisions had long contributed to Sudan’s North-South tension, but the conflict took on greater sectarian overtones after 1989 when Col. Omar al-Bashir came to power with the support of Hassan al-Turabi’s National Islamic Front. Turabi, inspired by the thinking of Islamic revivalists such as Sayyid Qutb and Abul Ala Mawdudi, sought to refashion Sudan as an Islamist state. (Turabi is best known today for his association with Osama bin Laden, who moved his base of operations to Khartoum from 1992 to 1996 at Turabi’s invitation.)...
Museveni saw Sudan’s support for the ADF-NALU and LRA as part of a wider effort orchestrated by Omar al-Bashir and Hassan al-Turabi to “Islamize” and “Arabize” the Great Lakes region, hence the imperative of dislodging the groups from eastern Congo. The contest between Khartoum and Kampala in the mid-1990s thus assumed highly ideological stakes as Uganda supported a left-wing, secular and “African” SPLA against an Islamist, “Arab” regime that was seeking to weaponize religion across Africa.
- ↑ Strategic Studies Quarterly: SSQ.. United States: AU Press, Air University, 2009,
pp.83-85 [1].
In Sudan, the central government has tried to "conquer, Arabize, and Islamize" the South for most of half a century, as well as ethnically cleanse Darfur and subdue other outlying regions, instead of seeking to build legitimacy ...
- ↑ See also: Susan E. Rice#Osama bin Laden.