The civil war was fought primarily between the Sudanese government and southern rebels seeking greater autonomy and resource control.

Sudanese politicians held differing views on decolonisation, independence, and the balance between maintaining sovereignty and accepting foreign aid.

The Umma Party, for example, saw accepting aid from the United States as necessary for protecting Sudanese sovereignty, while others had varying perspectives.

[7] The First Sudanese Sovereignty Council ended on 17 November 1958 when General Ibrahim Abboud seized power in a military coup.

Ibrahim Abboud assumed the presidency, and the council was dissolved, leading to a change in Sudan's governance structure from a parliamentary system to military rule.