Nimeri, Gaafar Muhammad (born 1930)

Sudanese soldier and president 1971–85. He led a coup in 1969 which overthrew the government, and became head of a Revolutionary Command Council and prime minister, elected president in 1971. His major achievement was the conclusion in 1972 of an agreement ending the 17-year civil war with southern Sudan by granting the area autonomy within a united Sudan. He was deposed in 1985.

Nimeri was born in Omdurman and educated at the Sudan Military College. He served in the armed forces, took part in the campaigns against the south, and was arrested in 1966 for plotting against the government. As prime minister, he thwarted a communist-led coup in 1971 and initially led the Sudan towards the Eastern bloc and into closer cooperation with Egypt and Libya, but reversed this after 1971.