Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa

Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa Al-Hassan(Arabic:سر الختم الخليفة الحسن,romanized:Sirr al-Khatim al-Khalīfa al-Ḥasan;1 January 1919– 18 February 2006) was aSudanesepolitician,ambassadorand an eliteeducator,who served as the 4thPrime Minister of Sudan.He was famous for his great legacy in education and founding prints forMinistry of Educationin Sudan, and as the executive Prime Minister in theOctober Regime.Al-Khalifa had asocialistorientation and was therefore sympathetic to theSimba,who had embracedcommunism.

Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa
سر الختم الخليفة
Al-Khalifa in 1965
4thPrime Minister of Sudan
In office 30 October 1964 – 2 June 1965
President	Sovereignty Council
Preceded by	Ibrahim Abboud
Succeeded by	Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub
Acting President of Sudan
In office 16 November 1964 – 3 December 1964
Preceded by	Ibrahim Abboud
Succeeded by	Sovereignty Council
Personal details
Born	1 January 1919 Ed Dueim,Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Died	18 February 2006 (aged 87)
Political party	Independent
Alma mater	Exeter College, Oxford University of Khartoum
Military service
Battles/wars	First Sudanese Civil War

Early life and education

Al-Khalifa was born inEd Dueimto Al-Khalifa Hassan Ahmed and Nafisa Al-Fakki Alabead. Descending from theAl Jalaintribe, his father migrated fromShendito Ed Dueim and was appointed askhalifaofAl-Khatmiya.

In the early 1920s he attained his primary education at Ed Dueim Rural School andBerber Intermediate School.In 1937 he graduated fromGordon Memorial Collegestudying Teachers Education. Al-Khalifa became a teacher atBakht Arridain 1938 and worked there until 1944 when he moved toGreat Britainto continue his education.

In 1944 Al-Khalifa furthered his education by attendingExeter College, University of Oxford.In 1946 he returned to Sudan to resume his teaching job at Bakht Arrida.

Trip to southern Sudan

In 1950, after the abandonment of theSouthern Policy,a colonial policy that isolated southern Sudan from education and economic development, Al-Khalifa was appointed as a Provincial Education Officer atEquatoria ProvinceinJuba.After seven years of success at the job, he was promoted to become Assistant Director of Education for Southern Provinces, the highest educational position in the region. During this time, he increased the number of schools and introducedArabicto the region. Spending 10 years in southern Sudan, spreading education and relating to the once-totally-closed south, he became a very favorable and respected character in the whole of Sudan.

Return to northern Sudan

In 1962, Al-Khalifa was appointed as a dean ofKhartoum Technical Institute(nowSudan University of Science and Technology). He spent two years at the job, and was nicknamed "Father of Technical Education" in Sudan, since he devoted great effort and time for this newly established technical school.

1964 Revolution and political career debut

In 1964, theAbbud regimewas facing numerous instabilities that led to a major strike from the different working sectors of society. The strike, known as the October Revolution, led to rioting and numerous deaths and forcedPresident Abbudto dissolve the government and prepare for civilian rule.

Al-Khalifa was nominated by theUmma Partyas prime minister for a transitional government to prepare for civilian rule. Many agreed upon the nominee, others including theSudanese Communist Party(SCP) strongly disagreed due to his political inexperience with their nominees includingAbdin IsmailandJaafar Karrar.After several meetings between the different parties, Al-Khalifa was appointed as prime minister for the transitional government.

The Al-Khalifa regime was very eager to address, tackle and find peaceful solutions to the southern problem. With party members holding few positions, southern politicians were allowed positions that were historically only held by northerners.Clement Mborobecame the first southern to hold the position of Minister of Interior.

1965 Round Table Conference

Al-Khalifa called upon establishing theRound Table Conferencewith the presence of 24 southern politicians and 18 northern party representatives to address the problem of the south. The conference was originally scheduled in Juba between 16–29 March 1965; however, several burnings and rampages in Juba signaled the migration of the conference toKhartoum.

"Gentlemen, Arabism, which is a basic attribute of the majority of the population of this country and of many African countries besides, is not a racial concept which unites members of a certain racial group. It is a religious, cultural and nonracial link that binds together numerous races, black, white and brown. Had Arabism been anything else but this, most modern Arabs, whether African or Asian, including the entire population of the Northern Sudan, would cease to be Arab at all."

— Muhammad Omar Bashir, The Southern Sudan: Background to Conflict (Khartoum University Press), p.168.

However, the conference reached a deadlock and was concluded with the establishment ofTwelve-Men Committee,consisting of the participating political parties. Al-Khalifa was forced to resign and the government promised to schedule elections by June 1965. With a rushed elections conducted in the north excluding the south for security reasons, this ended the transitional government of Al-Khalifa and started the second democratic phase of Sudan underMohamed Ahmed Mahjub.

Diplomatic break from politics

Al-Khalifa was appointed as ambassador toItalyin 1966.In March 1968, he was transferred to become ambassador to theUnited Kingdom.On 25 May 1969, whenGaafar Nimeiryseized power, Al-Khalifa was bluntly informed about his end of service and stripped of hisdiplomatic passport.He had to report immediately to Khartoum. Some believe that this blunt telex was a reply fromBabiker Awadallah,former chief justice and the new prime minister, and Nimeiry’s regime to Al-Khalifa’s betrayal of the October Revolution by rushing the 1965 elections thus handing power to Umma-PDP parties. After performing the diplomatic farewell toElizabeth II,Al-Khalifa returned to Khartoum in the beginning of June 1969.

Later life

In 1973, Nimeiry appointed Al-Khalifa as Minister of Education. He assumed this position for two years, when he was appointed in 1982 as President Advisor on Educational Affairs until the end of Nimeiry’s era in 1985.

The day after his death, Al-Khalifa's burial atAl-Bakri Cemeteryon 19 February 2006, was attended by thousands of his colleagues, politicians, educators and students.

Trivia

• Succeeded by his son Hassan (named after his father), and four daughters Nafisa (named after his mother), Sulafa, Sara and Sawsan
• He inaugurated and was the first to pitch a ball inAl Merreikh Stadiumin 1965.
• He was a fan ofAhmed Al-Mustafa,postHaqeebasinger
• He was one of the authors of the famous geography books in Sudan primary school syllabus,Sobol Kasb Al-ayash fe es Sudan,(Means of earning a living in Sudan). This book explored the different regions of Sudan, introducing the dialects and customs of each region.

External links

• Sudan Vision Daily NewsArchived26 September 2007 at theWayback Machine