Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein

Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein (Arabic: عبد الرحيم محمد حسين‎; born 1949) is a Sudanese politician and the former Governor of Khartoum State. Hussein served as the longstanding Minister of National Defense of The Republic of Sudan. Hussein also served for a period as the Minister of Interior Affairs. During his term as Minister of Interior Affairs, he opened the Rabat University. In later years, he was accused of supporting the Janjaweed and committing war crimes, allegations he and the government both strongly deny. Hussein was arrested in early April 2019 following a coup on 11 April which overthrew al-Bashir.[2][3]

Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein
عبد الرحيم محمد حسين
Governor of Khartoum State
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Minister of National Defense
In office
22 September 2005 – 6 June 2015[1]
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Preceded byBakri Hassan Saleh
Succeeded byMustafa Osman Obeid Salim
Minister of Interior Affairs
In office
18 January 1993 – 13 July 2005
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Succeeded byIbrahim Mahmoud Hamad
Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Command Council
In office
30 June 1989 – October 1993
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Preceded byPost created
Succeeded byPost abolished
Personal details
Born1949 (age 70–71)
Dongola, Northern State, Sudan
Political partyNational Congress
Military service
Allegiance Sudan
Branch/service Sudanese Air Force
Years of service1960's – 1989
RankLt. Gen.

Early life

Hussein was born in 1949 Dongola, part of Northern State,[4][5] although other sources have placed his birth in or around Dankla in Karma city in Khartoum North.[6] In 1964 he began his secondary education in Khartoum. It was here that he became an Islamist and also where he met and became close friends with Omar al-Bashir.[5]

Military career

He joined the Sudanese Air Force in the 1960s, and became a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhoods military cell from the 1970s onwards. Hussein graduated from the prestigious Cranfield University in the United Kingdom with a master's degree in aeronautical engineering in 1982.[7] He played a major role in the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état, and afterwards became Secretary-General of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation; the ruling authority of Sudan between 1989 and 1993.[5]

Politics

Interior Minister

Following the dissolution of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation he was appointed Minister of Interior Affairs by President Bashir, a position through which he dominated Sudan's internal security services. Whilst Interior Minister he was alleged to have worked directly with al-Qaeda during Osama bin Ladens time in Sudan from 1992 to 1996, and was alleged to have even provided al-Qaeda with sophisticated communications equipment.[5]

Despite being a strong Islamist, Hussein remained a loyal Bashir supporter following Bashir's rift with Hassan al-Turabi; the leader of the National Islamic Front, and quite possibly the most influential Sudanese Islamist, who had supported Bashir in his 1989 coup attempt.[5]

Hussein has recognised the major role Turabi played in the formation of the ideology that led the 1989 coup attempt, and spoke in 2002 about how although disliked the rift with Turabi due to the intellectual and political debt they owed him, Turabi's imprisonment was in fact necessary to protect the state that Turabi had advocated for.[5]

In 2003 President Bashir appointed Hussein as his special representative for Darfur. He held this position until 2004.[5]

He lost his job as Interior Minister in 2005 after the National Assembly demanded his resignation following a scandal caused by the collapse of a police hospital he owned.[5]

Minister of Defence

He became the Minister of National Defense in 2005, although has faced problems in this position, such as in May 2008 when he faced calls for his resignation due to security failures resulting in the 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum.[5]

He has also faced problems as Defence Minister from senior army officers demanding greater independence for the Sudanese Armed Forces from the National Congress Party. He has also been unsympathetic to rapprochement with the West, and even consoled the family of one of the killers of the US Diplomat John Granville following the death of the young militant in Somalia.[5]

War crimes allegations

On 2 December 2011, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court of the investigating the situation in Darfur, Luis Moreno Ocampo, requested a Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court to issue an arrest warrant against Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein for war crimes and crimes against humanity.[8]

On March 1, 2012, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Hussein, charging with 20 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes. As one of Bashir's closest allies, Hussein is accused of recruiting, arming and funding police forces and the Janjaweed militia in Darfur and also reported to be leading a campaign against rebels in the south.[9]

2019 arrest

On 11 April 2019, al-Bashir was overthrown in a coup and Hussein was soon afterwards arrested.[2][3] On 27 May 2020, Sudan’s public prosecution service announced that Hussein had tested positive for COVID-19 and was subsequently placed in quarantine.[10]

gollark: No, but it's nice to be able to refer to "Protagonism Street" and have there be no ambiguity.
gollark: ./warp choruscity
gollark: Which we probably do have right now, actually. There are something like... three cities. Cherryville is tiny, Chorus City uses weird names picked by me, and Switch City, well, has roads.
gollark: But I mean globally unique street names in Switchcraft.
gollark: Yes, the openstreetmaps page says so.

References
  1. "Sudan changes ministers of defence, foreign affairs, oil". Ynetnews. June 6, 2015.
  2. Elbagir, Nima (15 April 2019). "As Bashir faces court, Sudan's protesters keep the music alive". CNN. Archived from the original on 2019-06-19. Retrieved 2019-06-19.
  3. Sudan's Omar al-Bashir forced out in coup, CNN, Eliza Mackintosh and James Griffiths, 11 April 2019
  4. "Republic of Sudan Ministry of Defence: Former Defence Ministers". Archived from the original on 2018-08-12. Retrieved 2015-10-28.
  5. "Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein". Sudan Tribune. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
  6. "Hussein Case".
  7. Pigott, Peter (February 16, 2009). "Canada in Sudan: War Without Borders". Dundurn – via Google Books.
  8. ICC Prosecutor Presents New Case in Darfur Archived December 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. ICC press release. 2 December 2011. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  9. "Bashir Watch". United to End Genocide. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  10. "Sudan says 3 jailed members of ousted Bashir regime have coronavirus". Reuters. 28 May 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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