Obituary tributes for former Sudan Foreign Minister Faroug Abu Eisa

Sudanese from across the social and political spectrum have paid tribute to Faroug Abu Eisa, who served as Sudanese Foreign Minister from 1969 to 1971, and is hailed as a stalwart in the struggle for democracy in his subsequent leadership of the National Consensus Forces opposition coalition. Faroug Abu Eisa died at this home in Khartoum on Sunday.

The official Sudan News agency (SUNA) confirmed his death in the Khartoum’s suburb of El Riyadh, and in accordance with Muslim custom, he was buried at 4 pm the same day at El Bakri Cemetery in Omdurman.

In a message to the Sudanese people via SUNA, Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok said he “mourns with great sorrow and grief the national struggler who died today.

“Faroug Abu Eisa remained one of the historical symbols of the struggle for democracy, national liberation, and the supremacy of the state of rights and law in Sudan. He did not stop giving and contributed throughout his life.”

PM Hamdok highlighted that during his political career Abu Eisa “faced arrest and persecution with steadfastness and courage, and he struggled on many fronts and worked to expose the defunct regime politically and legally in all forums, and he will remain in the memory of our people as an inspiring and great symbol”.

On his Twitter feed, PM Hamdok said:” Our country has today lost one of the historical symbols of the struggle to establish the values of democracy and the sovereignty of the state of rights and law in Sudan. The struggling deceased Abu Eisa had a tender and appreciative contribution to the march of national action. He faced arrest and persecution with steadfastness and courage.”

Sudan’s Minister of Culture and Information, Feisal Mohamed Saleh, said that Abu Eisa was “a distinguished nationalist and jurist symbol, who had dedicated his life for defending the human rights and freedoms and democracy. He was always at the forefronts of struggle against the dictatorial regimes.”

Saleh pointed out that Abu Eisa’s efforts were not confined to Sudan, as he was at the forefront of advocates of the rights of Arab and African peoples and that of the rest of the world in freedom, democracy and dignity.

Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, Osman Mirghani, in a statement issued by his office in Cairo, that “the death of Abu Eisa is a great loss for Sudan” and that Abu Eisa had been one of the sincere nationalist symbols who had dedicated his life to the service of the homeland.

Abu Eisa was born in Wad Madani in 1933 and had his secondary school study at the renowned Hantoub Secondary School, where he had become a member of the Sudanese Communist Party in 1950.

He served in the May government of Jaafar Nimeiri as Foreign Minister from 1969 to 1971, and was elected in 1983 as Secretary General of the Arab Lawyers Union.

He travelled to Egypt after the Al Bashir coup and served a number of sessions in the post of secretariat of the Arab Lawyers Union till 2003.

He returned to Sudan in 2005 after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed, and assumed the chairmanship of the general council of the National Consensus Forces alliance of opposition parties.

In December 2014, he was detained and held incommunicado for some time, after which he was transferred to Kober Prison in Khartoum North. He was subsequently charged with undermining the constitutional system.

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