Coup Atlas Research Database
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62512281966AttemptedMilitary coup

Sudan, 1966 — military coup attempt

Sudan (SDN)North Africa, AfricaDecember 28, 1966

Event Summary

The dataset records an attempted military coup in Sudan on 28 December 1966, during the parliamentary government of the second democratic period that had followed the October 1964 popular uprising that overthrew the military regime of General Ibrahim Abboud. Sudanese politics in this period was unstable, marked by shifting coalitions among the Umma Party, the National Unionist Party, and the Islamic Charter Front, tension with the Communist Party which parliament moved to ban, and the continuing civil war in the south. This turbulence produced coup plotting from various quarters.

A notable attempt is associated with this period, linked to disaffected officers, and it did not overturn the civilian government. The fragile parliamentary order survived until May 1969, when Colonel Jaafar Nimeiri seized power in a leftist military coup, ending the second democratic period and installing a regime that would rule Sudan for sixteen years.

Researched Details

Researched

Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.

Target identified in Coup Atlas research: The Sudanese parliamentary government survived the plotting; civilian rule lasted until the 1969 Nimeiri coup
RESEARCHED NAME
Key figures
Sudanese parliamentary coalition leaders (targets)
Disaffected army officers (plotters)

Sources

Sudan's second democratic period began after the October 1964 popular uprising that overthrew the military government of General Ibrahim Abboud.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, History of Sudan (1956 to 1969) open source ↗
The parliamentary period was marked by unstable coalitions among the Umma Party, the National Unionist Party, and the Islamic Charter Front, and by moves to ban the Communist Party.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, History of Sudan (1956 to 1969) open source ↗
The civilian government also faced the continuing civil war in southern Sudan throughout the 1960s.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, History of Sudan (1956 to 1969) open source ↗
The second democratic period ended in May 1969 when Colonel Jaafar Nimeiri seized power in a military coup.
SOURCE REVIEWED Wikipedia, 1969 Sudanese coup d'etat open source ↗

Editorial Note

No discrete documentation of a coup attempt precisely on 28 December 1966 in Sudan was found in accessible English sources this session; the entry records the dataset's coding and the verified context of the unstable second parliamentary period, with the specific event and plotters unconfirmed, flagged as context only. Sits between the 1964 uprising and the 1969 Nimeiri coup in the Sudan arc.

Cross-Reference

Datasets agree. At least two of the three reference datasets we check against carry this event, and none of them disagrees about its date or its result.

Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:

Cline Center id
62512281966
Albrecht/Koehler/Schutz (CAM) id
CAM-625-1966-12-28

How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.

Outcome and Target

Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: The Sudanese parliamentary government survived the plotting; civilian rule lasted until the 1969 Nimeiri coup.

Baseline coding: Coup attempt failed to remove the incumbent. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.

Baseline Dataset Citation

Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset, v2.2.2
Peyton, Buddy, Joseph Bajjalieh, Michael Martin, and Andrea Gerald. 2026. Cline Center Coup d’État Project Dataset. Cline Center for Advanced Social Research. V.2.2.2. February 17. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. doi: 10.13012/B2IDB-9651987_V10
⚑ This citation establishes the coded baseline record; use the claim-level sources above for the researched narrative.

Baseline Source-Document Entries

CSP

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Luttwak

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Powell and Thyne

Named in the baseline source document; no article citation was recorded.

Irish Times

“Coup foiled in Sudan,” December 29, 1966

Washington Post

“Coup Attempt Fails in Sudan,” December 29, 1966

This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →

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