Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein

Following the dissolution of the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation he was appointed Minister of Interior Affairs by President Bashir, a position through which he dominated Sudan's internal security services. Whilst Interior Minister he was alleged to have worked directly with al-Qaeda during Osama bin Ladens time in Sudan from 1992 to 1996, and was alleged to have even provided al-Qaeda with sophisticated communications equipment.[5]

Despite being a strong Islamist, Hussein remained a loyal Bashir supporter following Bashir's rift with Hassan al-Turabi; the leader of the National Islamic Front, and quite possibly the most influential Sudanese Islamist, who had supported Bashir in his 1989 coup attempt.[5]

Hussein has recognised the major role Turabi played in the formation of the ideology that led the 1989 coup attempt, and spoke in 2002 about how although disliked the rift with Turabi due to the intellectual and political debt they owed him, Turabi's imprisonment was in fact necessary to protect the state that Turabi had advocated for.[5]

In 2003 President Bashir appointed Hussein as his special representative for Darfur. He held this position until 2004.[5]

He lost his job as Interior Minister in 2005 after the National Assembly demanded his resignation following a scandal caused by the collapse of a police hospital he owned.[5]

He became the Minister of National Defense in 2005, although has faced problems in this position, such as in May 2008 when he faced calls for his resignation due to security failures resulting in the 2008 attack on Omdurman and Khartoum.[5]

He has also faced problems as Defence Minister from senior army officers demanding greater independence for the Sudanese Armed Forces from the National Congress Party. He has also been unsympathetic to rapprochement with the West, and even consoled the family of one of the killers of the US Diplomat John Granville following the death of the young militant in Somalia.[5]