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
Sudan‘s current president, Omar al-Bashir, who has been in power for nearly 30 years has previously said he will step down in 2020 and has not explicitly stated his intention to run again.
