Sudan’s Al-Mahdi Transported to UAE for COVID-19 Treatment

Sadiq al-Mahdi talks during an interview with Reuters in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Sadiq al-Mahdi talks during an interview with Reuters in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
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Sudan’s Al-Mahdi Transported to UAE for COVID-19 Treatment

Sadiq al-Mahdi talks during an interview with Reuters in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Sadiq al-Mahdi talks during an interview with Reuters in Khartoum, Sudan, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

The leader of Sudan’s National Umma Party, Sadiq al-Mahdi, arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday to complete his treatment after he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Al-Mahdi was taken to Abu Dhabi for treatment.

On Monday, his party underlined in a statement that doctors at Alia Hospital decided to keep al-Mahdi under observation after he was infected along with 21 members of his family.

Social media activists shared a photo of al-Mahdi aboard the plane that took him to the UAE. He appeared wearing an oxygen mask.

Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, whose close associates have also tested positive for the COVID-19 disease, described al-Mahdi as one of the pillars of the Sudanese national movement.

He wished him and his family members a speedy recovery.

Hamdok also said on his Facebook page that he hoped al-Mahdi would return to Sudan soon to carry out along with the rest of the factions the nation-building process.

Acting Health Minister Osama Ahmed Abdul Rahim denied that the country would go into a lockdown, reiterating his call for social distancing and wearing masks.

The decision of a lockdown hinges on the spread of the pandemic and the community’s ability to deal with it, he said.

The Health Ministry reported 10 new cases on Friday, and a further 47 cases on Saturday and Sunday.

This brought the country’s tally to 13,866. The Ministry also reported a total of 837 deaths.



World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
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World Bank Presents $1 Billion Program for Lebanon Reconstruction

A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)
A man walks past the rubble of buildings that were destroyed in Israeli strikes during the latest war in the southern Lebanese village of Ramia near the southern border on March 5, 2025. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYYAT / AFP)

The World Bank has presented a $1 billion program for the reconstruction of Lebanon, the Lebanese prime minister's office said in a statement on Wednesday.

The program would include $250 million as a loan, with the rest of the financing to come from international aid, it added.

The cost of reconstruction and recovery for Lebanon following the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war is estimated at $11 billion, the World Bank said in a new report Friday.
The war killed over 4,000 people in Lebanon, displaced hundreds of thousands and caused widespread destruction in the nation.
The report by the World Bank’s Lebanon Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment covered damage and losses in ten sectors across the country from Oct. 8, 2023 until Dec. 20, 2024.
A US-brokered ceasefire went into effect in late November.