At this point Atta declared himself, Babiker Al Nour, and Farouk Osman Hamdallah in charge of the government, proclaiming a new Revolutionary Council. The three men were rumoured communists, and whilst they denied this, their new government's first act was to lift Nimeiry's ban on the Sudanese Communist Party and its various affiliated organisations. Speaking over the radio, Atta announced the new government would work in closer collaboration with communist and socialist countries, and stated that Sudanese communists would be brought into a new coalition government.[1]