Sudan in Turmoil

Throughout the 1990s and into the twenty-first century, the Sudanese intellectual Hasan al-Turabi dominated not just domestic policy, during which time Sudan was transformed into an Islamic nation, but also foreign policy, including Sudanese support for terrorist movements; Sudan's involvement in Somalia; its support for insurgencies in Bosnia and Yemen; and its becoming a haven for notorious individuals, such as Osama bin Laden and Carlos 'the Jackal'. In a power struggle, President al-Bashir and the military reassumed control over the political life of Sudan in 2003 and put al-Turabi, a former ally, under arrest. In summer 2009, al-Turabi was released from imprisonment but is too old to regain power.