SUDAN: Ex-president Suwar al-Dahab dies aged 83
Former Sudanese president Abdulrahman Suwar al-Dahab has died in Saudi Arabia, Sudan’s state news agency (SUNA) reports. The 83 year-old former leader died at a military hospital in Riyadh, the agency said on Thursday, without providing further details. Dahab, a former military officer, was defence minister before he led a coup in 1985 to overthrow […]
SUDAN Ex-president Suwar al-Dahab dies aged 83
Former Sudanese president Abdulrahman Suwar al-Dahab has died in Saudi Arabia, Sudan’s state news agency (SUNA) reports.
The 83 year-old former leader died at a military hospital in Riyadh, the agency said on Thursday, without providing further details.
Dahab, a former military officer, was defence minister before he led a coup in 1985 to overthrow Jaafar Nimeiri, who had been president since 1969.
When Dahab took power, he promised to hold elections in a year’s time, a pledge few believed in a country exhausted by civil war. The following year, he handed power over to a newly elected government headed by then Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi.
Al-Dahab then resigned from the political arena, devoting himself entirely to religious issues and becoming chairman of the Khartoum-based Islamic Organization.
In 1972, he served as advisor to the then emir of Qatar, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, after being abruptly expelled from Sudan, without explanation