Farouk Abu Issa

Farouk Abu Issa (Arabic: فاروق أبو عيسى; 12 August 1933 – 12 April 2020)^[1] was a Sudanese politician and the Chairman of the National Consensus Forces.^[2]

Farouk Abu Issa
فاروق أبو عيسى
Sudanese Foreign Minister
In office 1969–1971
President	Gaafar Nimeiry
Preceded by	Gaafar Nimeiry
Succeeded by	Mansour Khalid
Personal details
Born	(1933-08-12)12 August 1933 Wad Madani, Al Jazirah state, Sudan
Died	12 April 2020(2020-04-12) (aged 86) Al Riadh, Khartoum, Sudan
Political party	National Consensus Forces
Other political affiliations	Sudanese Communist Party (1950–1971)
Children	1+
Alma mater	Alexandria University

Abu Issa attended the prestigious Hantoub Secondary School and was involved in activism from a young age; he joined the Sudanese Communist Party in 1950.^[3][4] His father was a member of the political party Ashiqqa' and supported peace between Sudan and Egypt.^[3] Abu Issa graduated from Alexandria University with a degree in law in 1957 and subsequently joined the Egyptian Communist Party.^[3]

He was Sudanese Foreign Minister under Jaafar Nimeiry from 1969 to 1971.^[3] When the Sudanese Communist Party split from Nimeiry in 1970, Abu Issa withdrew from the party, though he continued to hold democratic sentiments.^[3] In 1983, he was elected as the Secretary General of the Arab Lawyers Union; he held this position until 2003.^[5][6] He fled to Egypt in 1989 after Omar al-Bashir overtook the government and stayed in exile until 2005 when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed.^[5] He became the chairman of the National Consensus Forces' general council and held this position until his death in 2020.^[5]

In December 2014 he was arrested along with Amin Mekki Medani, held in Kobar Prison, and subsequently charged with undermining the constitutional system.^[5][7] He was released from prison two and a half weeks later and taken to a hospital in Khartoum due to rapidly deteriorating health.^[8]