• 1955: The First Sudanese Civil War begins. • January 1, 1956: Sudan gains independence, with Ismail Al-Azhari as prime minister. • May 26, 1969: A military coup removes the government and abolishes political parties; Col. Gaafar Nimeiry becomes prime minister. • July 1971: The Sudanese Communist Party briefly gains power after a coup before Nimeiry is restored. • March 1972: The Addis Ababa agreement ends the first civil war. • 1976: The Ansars launch a bloody but unsuccessful coup. • 1983: The Second Sudanese Civil War begins following President Nimeiry’s declaration of an Islamic State and the foundation of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). • June 30, 1989: Omar Al-Bashir leads a bloodless coup. • 1993: Bashir appoints himself president. • 2000: Bashir dissolves parliament and declares a state of emergency after Hassan Al-Turabi introduces a bill to reduce the powers of the president. • 2003: Armed groups in Darfur take up arms in protest against government favoritism towards Arab Sudanese. The government-sponsored Janjaweed militia subsequently carries out a program of ethnic cleansing against non-Arabs, leading to the deaths of approximately 300,000 civilians. • 2005: The Comprehensive Peace Agreement is signed by the government and the SPLA. It aimed to develop democratic governance, and set out a timetable for South Sudan’s independence referendum. • May 2006: The Darfur Peace Agreement is signed by the Sudanese government and the SPLA. It ensured the disarmament of the Janjaweed and other militias as well as national wealth sharing schemes. • 2009: The International Criminal Court in The Hague issues an arrest warrant for President Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. • 2011: In a referendum, South Sudan votes to secede from the north.