Reuters is reporting that former Sudanese president Suwar al-Dahab (aka Abd al-Rahman Siwar al-Dhahab) has died in Riyadh. According to the report:
October 18, 2018 Former Sudanese president Abdulrahman Suwar Al-Dahab has died in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, Sudan’s state news agency SUNA said on Thursday. He died in Riyadh Military Hospital, the agency said, providing no further details. Dahab, a former military officer, was defense minister before he led a coup in 1985 to overthrow Jaafar Nimeiri, who had been president since 1969. Nimeiri was also a former military officer. 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. A Saudi boycott? It may not last However, in 1986 Africa’s largest country by land area held multi-party elections and a civilian government took office. Sudan’s current president, Omar al-Bashir, who has been in power for nearly 30 years and is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes, has previously said he will step down in 2020 and has not explicitly stated his intention to run again.
The GMBDW last reported on al-Dahab in May 2014 when he was received by the Secretary General of Muslim World League (MWL), a quasi governmental religious organization in Saudi Arabia, that was established in 1962 as a means for the propagation of Saudi “Wahabbi” Islam. That report also identified al-Dahab as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Call Organization in Sudan, otherwise known as the Islamic Dawa Organization (IDO). The IDO received some notoriety in 2013 when we reported that President’s Obama’s half brother was the Executive Secretary of the IDO’s Sudanese branch Ann was photographed in 2010 at an IDO Board of Directors Conference together with Field Marshal Al-Dhahab.
Perhaps most notable is al-Dahab’s role as the Deputy Head of the Union of Good (UOG), a Hamas fundraising organization associated with Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi. A 2009 report on the UOG authored by the GMBDW editor describes Al-Dhahab as follows:
Field Marshal ‘Abd al-Rahman Siwar al-Dhahab (Deputy) (Sudan) ‘Abd al-Rahman Siwaral-Dhahab is the former President of Sudan (1985-1989). During his term as President, Siwaral-Dhahab was close to the National Islamic Front (NIF), the political party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Dawa Organization, a Sudanese NGO working in Africa said to be close to Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Dawa Organization is also a [Union of Good] member organization.
When Qaradawi visited Gaza in May 2013, he was accompanied by al-Dahab and the two were photographed sitting on either side of Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Al-Dahab was also the Deputy head of the International Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief (IICDR), an umbrella group for 86 Islamic organizations, many of which are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas fundraising, or financial/material support of Al Qaeda.
Al-Dahab was also a member of the Presidency of the International Islamic Charitable Organisation (IICO), a Kuwaiti charity branches in the Middle East, Africa, Russia, and Central Asia and with historical ties to the US Muslim Brotherhood. Other ICCO member organizations have included the Qatar Charitable Organization (Union of Good, Hamas fundraising), Zakah House (Union of Good, Hamas fundraising), and the Eslah Social Association (Muslim Brotherhood Bahrain).Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi has been a long time member of the IICO board.
Other notable affiliations of al-Dahab included:
- A member of the founding body of the Muslim World League (MWL), Saudi Arabia
- A member of the founding body of the World Assembly Of Muslim Youth (WAMY), Saudi Arabia
- A Member of the Coordinating Committee for Voluntary Work, Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
- Deputy-Secretary-General of the World Muslim Congress, Karachi, Pakistan
The website of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has also published an Arabic language obituary for Suwar al-Dahab.