Sudan’s acting prime minister fires mining company CEO

October 16, 2023 (PORT SUDAN) – Sudan’s acting Prime Minister, Osman Hussein, dismissed Mubarak Ardol, the Director General of the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company, from his position on Sunday.

The decision, which was issued at the request of the mining minister, did not provide any specific reasons for Ardol’s dismissal. However, it came shortly after the release of an audio recording in which Ardol spoke about his intention to buy a website that had published an article claiming that the Head of the Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, had refused to receive him but later agreed to do so after the intervention of his deputy, Malik Agar.

This is the second leaked audio recording of Ardol. In August 2023, another recording was released in which Ardol criticized al-Burhan in a conversation with Nur al-Dayem Taha, a leading member of the Sudan Liberation Movement of Minni Minnawi (SLM-MM).

In a statement to the Aljmaheer website on Monday, Ardol said that he had been aware of the decision to dismiss him for ten days. He also said he expects Taha to be appointed to his former position.

Ardol spoke about divisions within the Democratic Bloc, a political coalition that includes his group, SLM-MM, and the Justice and Equality Movement of Gibril Ibrahim. He linked his dismissal to a power struggle within the coalition, pointing to disagreements during a recent meeting of the bloc’s leaders in the Eritrean capital.

Ardol was appointed Director General of the Sudanese Mineral Resources Company in April 2020 by former Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok. He has faced accusations of corruption and wasting the money of a social responsibility fund dedicated to social projects in the gold production areas. On August 5, 2021, Hamdok summoned Ardol to explain his decision to use this fund to contribute to the reception ceremony of the Governor of the Darfur region, Minni Arko Minawi, in El Fasher.

(ST)