Mirghani, Ahmad Ali al-

▪ 2009

      Sudanese politician

born Aug. 16, 1941, Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan [now in The Sudan]

died Nov. 2, 2008, Alexandria, Egypt

headed a rare democratically elected government in The Sudan as chairman of the Supreme Council from May 6, 1986, until he was overthrown by a military coup on June 30, 1989. In November 1988 Mirghani reached a peace agreement with the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), headed by John Garang. The accord included provisions for a cease-fire and a freeze on the implementation of Shariʿah (Islamic law) throughout the country, including the non-Muslim south. The coalition government at that time included the National Islamic Front, which refused to support the agreement. After the 1989 coup, Mirghani went into exile, mostly in Egypt, where he headed the National Democratic Alliance, which opposed the military regime in The Sudan, and cofounded the Islamic Development Corporation and the Sudanese Islamic Bank. In 2001 Mirghani returned to The Sudan and worked to end the civil war in the south and seek peace in Darfur province.

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