Sudan’s former PM Mahdi dies of coronavirus

KHARTOUM: Sudan’s former prime minister and top opposition figure Sadiq Al Mahdi died from a coronavirus infection on Thursday, his party said.

The 84-year-old was the country’s last democratically elected prime minister before he was toppled in 1989 by now-ousted president Omar Al Bashir in a military coup.

“We offer our condolences to the Sudanese people over his death,” the party said in a statement.

Mahdi was a staunch opposition figure during Bashir’s long rule and threw his weight behind a mass-protest movement that eventually prompted the military to overthrow the president last year.

Since his ouster, Bashir has been jailed in Khartoum’s high security Kober prison, and was found guilty last December of corruption.

He is currently on trial in Khartoum for his role in the 1989 coup that brought him to power and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged him for alleged war crimes in the Darfur war that began in 2003.

If convicted, Bashir and his co-accused - including former top officials - could face the death penalty.

Sudan has so far recorded nearly 17,000 coronavirus cases including more than 1,200 deaths.

Mahdi had returned to Sudan in December 2018, following a year-long self-exile, just as protests over worsening economic conditions and Bashir’s rule gathered steam.

His daughter Mariam Sadiq Al Mahdi, deputy leader of the Umma Party, was among those detained during the demonstrations.

While a successor to the party head has not yet been announced, she has been the most visible party leader in political negotiations and the media in recent years.

Opposition parties were weakened greatly under Bashir’s three-decade regime, and are jostling for power with the military during the country’s transition, making the Umma Party’s continued unity crucial to maintaining the balance of power.

Ater the military forced Bashir out from power, Mahdi pushed for a transfer to civilian rule, warning in interviews with Reuters of the risks of a countercoup and calling for the powerful, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be integrated.