Umma party deputy head Mariam al-Mahdi talks with an AFP journalist on January 3, 2016 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. AFP
Umma party deputy head Mariam al-Mahdi talks with an AFP journalist on January 3, 2016 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. AFP
Umma party deputy head Mariam al-Mahdi talks with an AFP journalist on January 3, 2016 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. AFP
Umma party deputy head Mariam al-Mahdi talks with an AFP journalist on January 3, 2016 in the Sudanese capital Khartoum. AFP

Mariam Al Mahdi: daughter of Sudan last elected leader is new foreign minister


Mona Farag
  • English
  • Arabic

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok announced the formation of a new government on Monday.

Dr Mariam Al Mahdi is the new foreign minister in a Cabinet comprising 25 members.

A medical doctor by education, she is no stranger to the political landscape – making her a good fit for Sudan’s latest ministerial formation.

The country is facing a number of crises on both the economic and security fronts, including rising prices and security challenges along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border and the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam and its repercussions on Sudan's water security.

Daughter of the late politician and former Sudanese prime minister Al Sadiq Al Mahdi, Dr Al Mahdi served as vice president of the Sudanese National Umma Party and a spokeswoman for the Council of Partners for the Transitional Period.

The National Umma party was founded by Dr Al Mahdi's father, after he was overthrown by the Islamist government led by Omar Al Bashir in 1989.

Both father and daughter were key opposition leaders against dictator Mr Al Bashir, who was removed from power by his generals in April 2019 after months of street protests against his 29-year rule.

Dr Al Mahdi is the second woman to hold the position of foreign affairs minister in the history of Sudan.

Asma Muhammad Abdullah was appointed as the foreign minister in late 2019, as part of Sudan's 18-member transitory council.

In his speech on Monday, Mr Hamdok  said the new Sudanese government aimed to seek balanced foreign relations. He said the new Cabinet was chosen based on the competency and abilities of its members.

Opposition parties were weakened greatly under Al Bashir's three-decade regime, and are jostling for power with the military during Sudan's transition, making the Umma Party's continued unity crucial to maintaining the balance of power.
Dr Al Mahdi accumulated almost three decades of political experience, working to free her country from the role of the Muslim Brotherhood, through her many positions in the National Umma Party.

At the same time, she studied to obtain her first degree in general medicine and surgery from the University of Jordan in 1991, followed by degree in tropical paediatric medicine from Liverpool Schools of Tropical Medicine in 1995.

She only practised medicine as a general practitioner in Sudan’s children hospitals for six years in the mid-1990s.

Dr Al Mahdi furthered her studies, and received a higher diploma in development and gender issues from Ahfad University for Girls in Omdurman in 2006, and a Bachelor of Law from Neelain University in Sudan in 2013.

  • Sudanese demonstrators eject a teargas canister lobbed to disperse them as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
    Sudanese demonstrators eject a teargas canister lobbed to disperse them as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
  • Sudanese demonstrators chant slogans as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
    Sudanese demonstrators chant slogans as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
  • Sudanese demonstrators run from teargas lobbed to disperse them as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
    Sudanese demonstrators run from teargas lobbed to disperse them as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
  • Sudanese demonstrators chant slogans as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
    Sudanese demonstrators chant slogans as they march along the street during anti-government protests in Khartoum, Sudan December 25, 2018. Reuters
  • Sudanese protesters run away from tear gas smokes during a demonstration in Khartoum, on December 31, 2018. AFP
    Sudanese protesters run away from tear gas smokes during a demonstration in Khartoum, on December 31, 2018. AFP
  • Residents of the Sudanese capital Khartoum queue in front of a bakery. AFP
    Residents of the Sudanese capital Khartoum queue in front of a bakery. AFP
  • People stand in a queue on July 31, 2019 outside a bakery in the central Sudanese city of Al-Obeid, two days after five pupils were shot dead for protesting against a shortage of bread. AFP
    People stand in a queue on July 31, 2019 outside a bakery in the central Sudanese city of Al-Obeid, two days after five pupils were shot dead for protesting against a shortage of bread. AFP
  • People stand in a queue on July 31, 2019 outside a bakery in the central Sudanese city of Al-Obeid, two days after five pupils were shot dead for protesting against a shortage of bread. AFP
    People stand in a queue on July 31, 2019 outside a bakery in the central Sudanese city of Al-Obeid, two days after five pupils were shot dead for protesting against a shortage of bread. AFP

With the start of protests in Sudan to overthrow Omar Al Basher in late 2018, Dr Al Mahdi supported an end to Bashir’s three-decade rule.

Due to her active role in public life, Dr Al Mahdi was detained several times by security forces, last of which was in January 2019 as anti-government protests spread to Khartoum university.

According to Amnesty international’s website, Dr Al Mahdi was also was arrested and detained on August 11, 2014 without charge and an in unknown location as she arrived at Khartoum Airport.

Dr Al Mahdi's father died from the coronavirus last November at the age of 84. He was Sudan's last democratically elected prime minister prior to the military coup that brought former president Omar Al Bashir to power.

THE SPECS

Aston Martin Rapide AMR

Engine: 6.0-litre V12

Transmission: Touchtronic III eight-speed automatic

Power: 595bhp

Torque: 630Nm

Price: Dh999,563

The biog

Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology

Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India

Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters

Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo

THE NEW BATCH'S FOCUS SECTORS

AiFlux – renewables, oil and gas

DevisionX – manufacturing

Event Gates – security and manufacturing

Farmdar – agriculture

Farmin – smart cities

Greener Crop – agriculture

Ipera.ai – space digitisation

Lune Technologies – fibre-optics

Monak – delivery

NutzenTech – environment

Nybl – machine learning

Occicor – shelf management

Olymon Solutions – smart automation

Pivony – user-generated data

PowerDev – energy big data

Sav – finance

Searover – renewables

Swftbox – delivery

Trade Capital Partners – FinTech

Valorafutbol – sports and entertainment

Workfam – employee engagement

Key developments

All times UTC 4

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5

Final scores

18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)

- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)

-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)

-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)

-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)

-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

What is a robo-adviser?

Robo-advisers use an online sign-up process to gauge an investor’s risk tolerance by feeding information such as their age, income, saving goals and investment history into an algorithm, which then assigns them an investment portfolio, ranging from more conservative to higher risk ones.

These portfolios are made up of exchange traded funds (ETFs) with exposure to indices such as US and global equities, fixed-income products like bonds, though exposure to real estate, commodity ETFs or gold is also possible.

Investing in ETFs allows robo-advisers to offer fees far lower than traditional investments, such as actively managed mutual funds bought through a bank or broker. Investors can buy ETFs directly via a brokerage, but with robo-advisers they benefit from investment portfolios matched to their risk tolerance as well as being user friendly.

Many robo-advisers charge what are called wrap fees, meaning there are no additional fees such as subscription or withdrawal fees, success fees or fees for rebalancing.

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
AUSTRALIA SQUAD

Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle