Sudan: (Jumhuriyyat al-Sudan)

The executions shocked many in Sudan and abroad, for Sudan was not accustomed to political executions. Toward the summer, the IMF ordered Sudan to introduce economic reforms before the Fund’s 15 July 1990 executive board meeting, or risk suspension from the Fund. Sudan’s decision to back Iraq in the Gulf conflict, thereby turning its back on its Kuwaiti, Saudi, and Western benefactors, caused it additional severe financial difficulties, both in the short and long term. Sudan initiated the establishment of an integration plan (mashru’ al-takamul), which Bashir announced on 4 March upon his return from a three-day visit to Tripoli. The American announcement was made several days after Sudan and Libya had publicized their integration plan. The fact that Islamic fundamentalism was flourishing in Sudan and the possibility that it might dominate other countries in the Middle East, especially Egypt, was a further source of worry to the Bush Administration.