KHARTOUM (AFP) – Sudan's former president Ahmed al-Mirghani, who was unseated by the military coup that swept the current head of state to power 19 years ago, died on Sunday at the age of 67, state television said.It quoted President Omar al-Beshir as announcing that Mirghani, who was deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and head of a Sufi religious Muslim group, died in the afternoon.
In keeping with Sudanese tradition, three days of mourning prayers will be conducted at the Sayed Ali al-Mirghani grand mosque in Khartoum North.
One mourner at the mosque told AFP that Mirghani would be buried on Monday.
Mirghani was head of a now defunct presidency council from May 1986 until 1989, when the Islamist-backed coup swept Beshir into power as head of state.
A member of one of Sudan's most prominent families, he was born in Khartoum North on August 16, 1941 and graduated from the University of London.
He was a senior member of a transitional government that returned Sudan to civilian rule in April 1986 following an earlier military coup.