Gaafar Mohamad Numeiry - (1930 - ) - A sudanese political leader. Numeiry Studied in Islamic Schools before graduating from the Military College at Khartoum (1952). He continued his training in Egypt (1955 - 1956), where he became an enthusiastic admirer of Egyptian revolutionary leader Gamal Abdel Nasser. Considered the spokesman and leader of Sudan's younger officers, he led a successful coup against the government of Ismail Al-Azhari (May 1969), headed the revolutionary council, and was elected president in a plebiscite (1971).

Initially pro-Soviet, he maintained close ties with Egypt and the West after the early 1970s. He ended the 17 Year civil war by granting limited autonomy to the south (1972). In 1978, he was elected Chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU),(1978-79). By the 1980s his one-party rule had become increasingly authoritarian and unpopular, he imposed Islamic Law (Sharia) throughout the country in 1983, and instituted an austerity program in 1985, including increased food prices, to bolster a deteriorating economy. Following protest of several days of demonstrations and strikes, while in a tour of the United States and Egypt, he was overthrown in bloodless military coup by his Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, General Abdul Rahman Siwar Al-Dhab.