Ugee

Sudan's former president dead

Khartoum - Former Sudanese president Jaafar Nimeiri, who took power in a coup in 1969 and brought Islamic rule to Sudan, died on Saturday after a period of illness, government officials said. He was 79-years-old. "We were expecting this for a time, he had developed an illness. Today he died " presidential assistant Magdi Abdel Aziz told Reuters.

Presidential spokesperson Mahjoub Fadal said the funeral would probably be in Khartoum's Omdurman area on Sunday morning.

Nimeiri spent 16 stormy years as Sudan's leader until he was ousted in April 1985 by a military coup and granted political asylum in Egypt.

He came to power in a 1969 coup that ended five years of civilian rule marred by party squabbling, corruption and economic problems.

He began his rule as a left-wing admirer of Egypt's late president Gamal Abdel Nasser but gradually shifted to the right to become a US ally, smashing insurrection by Moslem groups and the left. He introduced Islamic (Sharia) law to Sudan in 1983.

But by early 1985, Nimeiri's problems were compounded by a foreign debt of $9bn, an influx of refugees from neighbouring countries and a devastating drought.

As he flew to Washington less than a month before his overthrow to seek more aid from the United States, riots broke out, leading to his downfall.