Across the River

AFP, "Sudan's ex-president Mirghani to be buried Wednesday" - AFP - Khartoum, Sudan
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The body of Sudan's late president Ahmed al-Mirghani will be flown to Khartoum for burial on Wednesday, accompanied by his opposition leader brother who will be returning after years of exile.

A government official told AFP that Sudan sent a special plane to Egypt to bring back Mirghani, 67, who died suddenly on Sunday in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where he had been living.

Sudan's opposition Democratic Unionist Party, which is led by the late president's brother Mohammed Osman al-Mirghani, announced the arrangements for the funeral in a statement released on Monday.

It said the body would be accompanied by his brother, who is the leader of the DUP and head of the Khatmiya Sufi religious Muslim group.

Mirghani will be buried on Wednesday at the Sayed Ali al-Mirghani grand mosque in Khartoum North, across the river from the presidential palace.

He was unseated in a military coup that swept the current head of state Omar al-Beshir to power 19 years ago.

Mirghani's brother has lived in self-imposed exile, mainly in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, since fleeing the country in 1993 and subsequently announcing his opposition to the Beshir regime.
He was arrested and briefly detained after Beshir came to power.

The Mirghanis come from one of the most prominent families in Sudan who can trace their lineage back to Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).