1956 
January 1rst : UK and Egypt grant Sudan independence. Democratic regime. 
War starts in the South. 

1957
April : The Christian schools of the South (350) are confiscated. 

1958 
November : Military coup d'Etat ; General Abboud establishes his dictatorship. 

1962 
February : Friday is declared holiday instead of Sunday. 

1964 
All the foreign members of the religious orders are expelled from the Southern provinces. 

October : Popular revolution. Parliamentary regime re-established. 

1969 
May 25 : Military coup d'Etat by General Nimeiri supported by the communists. 

1970 
 The massacre of the Ansars on Aba island. Their chief el Hadi el Mahdi flees and is gunned down at the Ethiopian border; 

June:  Nationalization of the economy : important industrial and commercial enterprises expropriated in favour of state owned corporations. 

1971 
July : The communists try to take advantage of the coup d'Etat. General Nimeiri is imprisoned, but a few days laterr he is able to take control of the situation and starts to hunt down the communists. 

1972 
March Addis-Abeba accord between Nimeiri and the rebellion in the South : the South becomes autonomous but not independent. End of the war with the South, which left 700,000 dead. 

1973 
 Confiscated and nationalized entreprises are returned to private owner ship. Sudan’s new constitution includes the Addis-Abeba accord. 

1976 
July :  Aborted coup against Nimeiri by the Ansars, armed rebels of Mahdi’s who take over Khartoum. 

1977 
July : Nimeiri gets reconciled with Sadek el Mahdi who moves back to Sudan. 

1978 
A French company starts digging the Jonglei canal in the South to increase the flow of the Nile which will profit Egypt and North Sudan. The Southern populations are hostile to the project. 
1980-1981 : Petrol found in the South and along the border with the North. Nimeiri tries to change the border between North and South so that the petrol would be in Northern territory. 

1983 
Early : War flares up again in the South. 

April : On his own initiative Nimeiri breaks the Addis Abeba Accord. 

September 8 : Under from Muslim integrists, Nimeiri promulgates a new penal Code, the Charia, contrary to the 1973 constitution. 

1984 
 The search for petrol in the South and the digging of the Jonglei canal, almost completed, stop because of the war spreading to the South. 

July 12 : Parliament refuses to ratify the modification to the 1973 Constitution which would make the Charia law legal.This infuriates even the people of the North. In spite of that, the Charia is still the applicable law. 

1985 
April : A popular uprising overthrows Nimeiri. General Suwar el Dahab heads an interim regime for one year to prepare for a return to democracy. The Charia law is no longer applicable. 

1986 
April : The Oumma party of Sadek el Mahdi wins the elections, closely followed by the DUP. Turabi had run as leader of the FNI and lost ; his party obtained only 18% of the seats with less than 5% of the votes. Sadek-el-Mahdi becomes Prime Minister and starts a coalition government with the DUP. Muslim integrists are excluded. The Charia law, though not officially abolished, is not applied. War continues in the South. 
 

1988 
November 16 : Negotiations between DUP and the SPLA obtain an agreement in principle to end the war in the South and maintain the unity of Sudan. Abolition of the Charia law is a sine qua non condition. 

1989 
March 26 : The government accepts the November 16 accord under the name "Peace Accord". 

April 3 :  Parliament also approves this agreement and plans a meeting with the SPLA for July 4, to prepare a constitutional conference to take place on September 18, 1989. 

April 10 : A motion presented by Muslim fundamentalist members of Parliament demanding the implementation of the Charia law is rejected by a large majority. The Head of Parliament (a fundamentalist) resigns and the fundamentalist members decide to boycott Parliament. 

May 3 : Tourabi calls for the Djihad, (the Holy war) against the Southern rebellion instead of a peace treaty “meant to undermine national identity”. 

June 12 : Rebels and the Sudanese Government meet in Addis-Abeba. 

June 13 : In Khartoum, Prime minister Sadek-el-Mahdi expresses optimism over the previous day's meeting and anticipates peace in the very future. 

June 16 : In London, John Garang, head of the SPLA declares that peace is at last in sight. 

June 30 : Military coup in Sudan. The Assembly and the Government are dissolved, political parties and trade unions banned, their leaders imprisoned. Newspapers cannot be published. 

July 2 : General el Baschir, Head of the military junta now in power, declares that the implementation of the Charia.law will be the object of a referendum. 

July 6 : Representatives of the Junta and of the SPLA meet in Addis-Abeba to "prepare for a meeting to take place shortly". John Garang’s political adviserin London, M. Mansour Khaled, expresses his concern about the future of the accord that was about to be signed just before the coup. 

July 9 : General is ambiguous about the peace strategy of the Junta. He declares that he just wants to "do away with the past and start anew". 

August : The Charia, suspended since the departure of Nimeiri, is progressively reapplied. The regime’s fundamentalist postion is no longer in doubt. 

October 21 : The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is constituted, regrouping all previous political parties and trade unions except the Muslim National Front which refused to sign the Charter. 

1990

March 28 : The SPLA adheres to the NDA Charter. About  80 to 85% of the Sudanese population are estimated to be for the NDA and against the regime. 
 

1991

December 13 : Iran pledges to finance the purchase of weapons for Sudan from China worth two billion francs. 

1992 

 Peace talks in Abuja (Nigeria) between the regime and the rebellion. They end up in failure. 

December 4 : The United Nations General Assembly condemns Sudan for violations of Human Right (102  votes for/ 7 against). 

1993 

 New series of Peace Talks (Abuja II) end up again in failure. 

February 10 : The Pope visits Khartoum. He appeals for peace and respect for everyone's rights. 

March 10 : The U.N. Commission for Human Rights condemns Sudan (35 votes for, 9 against) and decides to appoint a special Rapporteur for Sudan. 

April : The NDA Congress in Nairobi proclaims its commitment to a complete separation between State and Church. 

August 18 :  The US State Department announces that Sudan is now listed among the countries supporting terrorism. 

December 7 : The UN General Assembly condemns Sudan for violations of Human Rights (101 votes for, 13 against). 
 

Beginning of 1994 : At the initiative of the Presidents of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, Peace talks start again in Nairobi, under the auspices of the IGADD (inter-Governmental Authority against Drought and Desertification). 

March 11 : The U.N. Commission for Human Rights condemns Sudan (35 votesfor, 9 against). 

March 15 : The European Union council votes for an arms embargo on Sudan. 

 May 18 to 21 : Second session of IGADD. 

June 8 : The Muslim leader Hassan el Tourabi appeals to the Sudanese youth for the Djihad (holy war) in order to unify the "Muslim nation". 

June 29 : General Omar el-Baschir affirms his commitment to the Muslim way. "We will march on to raise the Muslim banner on high". 

July 18 : Third session of the IGADD. Peace negotiations resume in Nairobi. 

August 2 : Hassan el Turabi declares : "Islam will sweep across North Africa" and "Islamization represents the liberation of the societies previously under to western colonization". 

Août 15 : The Sudanese Government extradites Carlos to France. 

September 6 : The 4th session of peace negotiations on Sudan opens under the auspices of the IGADD. It goes on until september 21, 1994 and ends in failure. 

 September 22 : Violent demonstrations in Wad Medani (central Sudan). 

October 8 - 10 : Conference on religions in Khartoum. At the end, President Omar el Baschir declares openly to the audience that "the government of Khartoum is following a long-term plan to transform Sudan into a Muslim State by all means. 

December 6 : Break-down of diplomatic relations between Eritrea and Sudan. 

December 16 : The U.N. General Assembly condemns Sudan (101 votes for, 13 against). 
 

January 24 :Amnesty International launches a world wide campaign on the generalized violation of Human Rights in Sudan. 

March 8 : The U.N. Commission on Human Rights condemns Sudan (33 votes for, 7 against). 

March 13 :  The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights asks Sudan to stop "Human Rights violations and killings". 

April : Break down of diplomatic relations between Sudan and Uganda. 

June 16 : Meeting of the AND (united opposition) in Asmaar (Eritrea); it adopts the motion of the right of South Sudan and the marginalized regions (Nouba) to auto-determination after an interim period of 4 years after the fall of the Muslim regime in Khartoum. 

June 26 : An attempt is made against the life of the President of Egypt, Hosni Moubarak. 

July 5 : Hassan el-Turabi pays tribute to the authors of the failed attempt on the life of the Egyptian President Hosni Moubarak calling them "moujahiddines" (faith fighters), adding; "Allah wants Islam revived starting from Sudan and going up the Nile to cleanse Egypt of its filth". 

July 17 : The Egyptian Information Minister affirms that "armed muslim fundamentalists of various nationalities are training on 50 differents sites in Sudan. 

July 29 :  4.000 students demonstrate against the government. 

September 12 : New students demonstrations against the power of President Omar el Baschir not only in Khartoum but also in Wad Médani and Port Soudan. 

September 15 : Popular militias are mobilized to confront students’ demonstrations. They leave 6 dead and about 40 wounded. 

September 21 : During the conference of the 26 Governers of the country's states, Dr Hassan el Tourabi declares : "The revolutionary movement now in power in Sudan will not stop at the country’s borders, but will be at the vanguard in the liberation of the world around Sudan.” 

Septembre 23 to 26 : In Barcelone (Spain) UNESCO organizes a symposium for peace in Sudan as part of its program. The participants "condemn all forms of totalitarianism and intolerence". 

September 28 :  The joint Assembly of the U.E. – A.C.P. adopts a resolution suspending Sudan from the Lomé Accord. 

October 7 to 10 : Visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury. On his return to London he expressed his disappointment at the issue of his meeting with the Sudanese authorities. "I speak about the problems arising from islamization, they wonder where the problem is. I speak about the violations of Human Rights, they deny everything. These people think that nobody in the world understands them". 

November 11 : A big stock of weapons and explosives smuggled in from Sudan have in the region of Assouan in Upper Egypt. 

End of November : Khartoum receives large quantities of weapons and military equipment from communist China. 

December 10 :  The U.N. General Assembly condemns Sudan. 
 

January 9 : The National Democratic Alliance meets in Asmara. 

January 16: Serious incidents arise between the Papal Nuncio and the Minister of Social Planification. 

January 26 : One-hundred and fifty Sudanese officers opposed to the continuation of war in the south of the country, "considering it absurd", are discharged from their duties. 

January 31 : The U.N. Security Council formally accuses Sudan of supporting terrorism and requests it to extradite three Muslim Fundamentalists wanted for the assassination attempt on the Egyptian President, Hosni Moubarak. The Council unanimously adopts resolution 1044. 

January : At the occasion of the trial of the spiritual guide of the Egyptian Muslim Fundamentalist Omar Abdel Rahmane, four Sudanese are condemned in New York to serve sentences of 25 and 35 years in prison for their involvement in a plot to "lead an urban war in the United States". 

February 8 : Eritrea opens the Sudanese embassy’s in Asmara, closed since the break-down in diplomatic relations to the Sudanese opposition (A.N.D) 

March 6 to 17 : Presidential and Parliamentary elections. The votes will be counted and the results announced between March 18 and 20. 

March 22 :  The results of the elections are published : General el Baschir is elected. 

March 25 : The Assembly U.E.-A.C.P requests that sanctions against Sudan be maintained. 

April  1 : Dr Hassan el Turabi is elected president of the new Parliament. 

April 16 : The U.N. Commission on Human Rights denounces the practice of slavery in Sudan and condemns the country for violations of Human Rights (resolution adopted without votes cast). 

April 18 : Sudan says it is ready to cooperate with the U.N. Human Rights Commission’s Special Rapporteur. 

April 26 : The UN Security Council adopts a resolution for sanctions against Sudan (resolution 1054 - 13 countries voted for, China and Russia abstained). 

May 23 : In France the national consultative Commission  on Human Rights communicates to the Prime Minister its opinion on the situation of Human Rights in Sudan. 

June 12 and 15 : The towns of Chukudum and Maridi are repeatedly shelled. 

July 14 :  Sudan stops repaying its debts to the IMF. The IMF had already threatened Sudan with exclusion for not repaying some 1,7 billion dollars. Sudan’s external debt is estimated at 15 billion dollars. 

July 22 : The first oil refinery in Sudan is inaugurated. It is situated 10 km from el Obeid, and its capacity could be raised to 20.000 barrels a day. 

August 3 : Muslim women representing more than 70 countries meet in Khartoum since July 27. They decide the creation of an international association of Muslim women. Mrs Wissal al-Mahdi, wife of Dr Hassan el Turabi is elected Secretary General. The purpose of this new world organization is to allow the Muslim women to "spread their Muslim message throughout the world". 

August 16 : The UN Security Council adopts a new resolution holding sanctions against Sudan Resolution 1070 is voted for by 13 countries, China and Russia abstained. 

September 26 : A joint A.C.P.-U.E. Assembly meeting in Luxembourg condemns the Sudanese government and all the warring parties responsible for the pursuit of war, the killings and the torture and asks the Sudanese government to ensure the partition between State and Religion and stop its policy of destabilizing the neighbouring countries.