He aimed for political partnership with indigenous African Sudanese people of Nuba, Fur, Beja, Nubia, Ingesenia and other parts of northern Sudan.
[4] These African groups formed the Congress of New Forces (CNF), in the Constituent Assembly in 1967/68, to oppose the government of Prime Minister, Muhammad Ahmad Mahgoub of the Umma Party.
[5] Ohure and Oduho moved from Uganda to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were joined by William Deng and founded the Sudan African Closed Districts National Union (SACDNU).
[7] The exiles moved back to Kampala in Uganda in 1963, with the movement renamed the Sudan African National Union (SANU).
[8] In Kampala the SANU became the voice of the 60,000 refugees who had fled to camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, but was unable to establish a political presence in Sudan.
[3] In response to mounting pressure, the military ruler, Major General Ibrahim Abboud, announced his resignation and opened way to civilian rule, beginning from 21 October 1964.
The other SANU leaders, led by Aggrey Jaden, rejected Deng's proposal and instead decided to continue outside Khartoum until total "independence is achieved."
[9] The SANU was formally registered as a political party in Sudan following a rally in Omdurman on 11 April 1965, which was attended by 20,000 douthern and northern Sudanese.
[6] The provisional government, led Sirr Al-Khatim Al-Khalifa, from 24 October 1964 to 15 June 1965, held the Round Table Peace Conference on the "problem of Southern Sudan."
To save face the northern and southern parties agreed to continue consultations by forming a twelve-man committee to consider and study what they called "local autonomy."
The two parties opted for coalition government headed by the NUP President, Ismail al-Azhari as president of the Supreme Council (five men's head of state membership) and Umma Prime Minister, Mohamed Ahmed Mahgoub, whose policy was to make war with southern Sudan arms movement, the Anyanya, and their supporters inside the country.
[9] As a result, Prime Minister Mahgoub committed massive massacre of educated and Chiefs in Wau, Juba and other towns on 9–15 July 1965.
Despite this, William Deng invested considerable time and efforts, trying to convince government leaders of the benefits of solving the north–south conflict.