إبراهيم عبود
On independence in 1956, the army was "regarded as a highly trained, competent, and apolitical force, but its character changed in succeeding years." It began expanding before independence, with a programme aiming at a three-fold expansion, J.M. Lee 1969, 104 levelling off at about 50,000 in 1972. After independence, the military -particularly the educated officer corps- lost much of its former apolitical attitude; soldiers associated themselves with parties and movements across the political spectrum." On November 17, 1958, the army's two senior generals, Major General Ibrahim Abboud, the armed forces commander, and Ahmad Abd al Wahab, seized power in a military coup. First writes that '..the coup in the Sudan, far from being a take-over.. by the army, was a hand-over to the army. It was a coup by courtesy.. in response to the demand for emergency measures by the head of government" (Abdallah Khalil). Abboud was forced to step down in 1964.