Sudan's former PM Sadiq al-Mahdi dies from coronavirus in UAE

Leading Sudanese politician and former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi died from a coronavirus infection three weeks after being hospitalised in the United Arab Emirates, according to family sources and a party statement early Thursday. Mahdi, 84, was Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister and was overthrown in 1989 in the military coup that bought former president Omar al-Bashir to power.

Leading Sudanese politician and former prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi died from a coronavirus infection three weeks after being hospitalised in the United Arab Emirates, according to family sources and a party statement early Thursday.

Mahdi, 84, was Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister and was overthrown in 1989 in the military coup that bought former president Omar al-Bashir to power. Mahdi headed the moderate Islamic Umma party and remained an influential figure even after Bashir was toppled in April 2019.

Last month, al-Mahdi's family said he had tested positive for COVID-19, and was transferred to the UAE for treatment a few days later following a brief hospitalisation in Sudan. Several family members and leading party officials were infected as well.

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. After 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 counter-coup and calling for the powerful, paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be integrated.

Sudan's government had briefly arrested Mahdi in 2014 and accused him of conspiring with armed rebels, a charge that could carry the death penalty, leading him to seek refuge in Cairo.

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