In 1989, four years after the Union's founding, a
coup d'état took place, resulting in the organization being banned and expelled from the historic building in Khartoum. Members of the Union were arrested and tortured. It took until shortly after the signing of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005/06 that the union could be revived again. A year later, in 2007, the union again consisted of fifty members; some members were located within Sudan, while others lived in exile. Altogether it lasted twenty years until the organization was able in 2009 to reopen a settlement in the capital of Sudan. The same year, the union claimed back its building in Khartoum. In 2007, the Sudanese Writers Union was honored with a
Prince Claus Award from the
Netherlands. The jury presented the award under the theme
Culture and Conflict and praised the work of the union, stating that its members "
are working against huge odds to provide a Space of Freedom for debate." On 29 January 2015, the Sudanese Writers Union was dissolved again and its cultural activities banned by the Ministry of Culture of the government of
Omar al-Bashir. At the end of 2016, an administrative
court of appeal in Khartoum annulled the Ministry’s decision and ordered the security apparatus to return the Union’s property, as well as to allow them to resume their activities. == Key figures ==