2025 has been marked by the loss of many extraordinary personalities that helped shape Sudan in one way or another.
As the world mourned the loss of Pope Francis, Jane Goodall, Diane Keaton, Gene Hackman, Robert Redford, D’Angelo, and many more, Sudan mourned the loss of some of the country’s greatest national and social icons.
500 Words Magazine takes a look back at 2025 to honour and bid farewell to those Sudan lost this year.
Dr Gaafar Ibnauf (1942–2025)
Dr Gaafar Ibnauf Suliman, a renowned pediatric doctor, consultant, and professor at the University of Khartoum, passed away on 6 March 2025 in Abu Dhabi, UAE, at the age of 83, after battling a long illness. Born in 1942, Dr Gaafar is the founder of the Dr Gaafar Ibnauf Children’s Hospital and the recipient of the European Unions’ Champions of Human Rights Award 2016.
Mohammed Faisal Al Jazzar
Popular singer Mohammed Faisal Al Jazzar, better known as Al Jazzar, passed away on 13 May 2025 in Souma’a, Al Gedaref State, following a sudden undisclosed illness. The news of his passing was announced on his official Facebook page on 14 May. Al Jazzar is best known for his hits Ya Zol (2018), Makashifi Alqawm (Visions of the People, 2017), and Alqalb Alba’atu (The Heart Sent, 2013). Recognised for his distinctive contemporary sound, he blends traditional Sudanese music with R&B and hip-hop influences. A former member of Sudan’s first boy band, Sudanese Band, which disbanded years ago, Al Jazzar went on to build a successful solo career, collaborating with prominent Sudanese artists such as Afrah Esam and Mahmoud Abdelaziz, famously known as Al Hoot.
Mohamed Tahir Ayala (1951–2025)
Mohamed Tahir Ayala passed away on 6 October 2025 in Cairo, Egypt, following a prolonged illness. He was a Sudanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Sudan from February to April 2019, making him the final Prime Minister to serve under President Omar Al Bashir. On 11 April 2019, he was deposed along with the other members of the government in the 2019 Sudanese coup d’état. He had previously served as Minister of Roads and Bridges and later as the governor of Red Sea State (2005–2015) and Al Gezira State (2015–2019).
Ali Cairo
Ali Abbas Ali Al Tahir, better known by his stage name Ali Cairo, died on 14 October 2025 in Kampala, Uganda, after a months-long illness. Days before his death, on 2 October, he shared a photo of himself on a hospital bed on social media, accompanied by prayers for his recovery. According to news reports, he had undergone surgery in Kampala and was being treated in St Francis Hospital in the Nsambya suburb, and that his body was later prepared for burial in Kampala.
Dr Abdelgader Salem (1946–2025)
Leading Sudanese singer, composer, and scholar Dr Abdelgader Salem passed away on 16 December 2025 at the age of 79, following an undisclosed illness. The late artist is considered one of the pillars of Sudanese music and one of the most prominent symbols of authentic Sudanese song. Born in 1946, Salem is from Dilling, South Kordofan. A pioneer in bringing Kordofan’s folk traditions into contemporary Sudanese music, he recorded over 40 radio songs, produced influential albums blending local rhythms with global styles, and represented Sudan internationally from the 1980s. Trained at the Higher Institute of Music and Theatre and later earning a master’s and PhD in Sudanese musical heritage, he combined academic research with a distinguished artistic career.
- Siddig Ahmed: musician (March 2025)
- Alfatih Arwa: army pilot (April 2025)
- Ahmed Shawesh: musician (May 2025)
- Makawi Alsheikh Alamin: poet (May 2025)
- Edmund Munir: artists and caricaturist (September 2025)
- Ammar Mohammed Adam: journalist (November 2025)
- Mahmoud Mohammed Haska: journalist and media personality (December 2025)
Sudan also lost…
500WM would also like to pay tribute to the martyrs of this senseless war.
The war in Sudan erupted on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), displacing between 12 and 14 million people and claiming nearly 200,000 lives.
This year, the conflict reached an especially horrifying stage with the RSF’s siege of Al Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, marked by starvation, deliberate killings, and ethnic cleansing. By October 2025, the RSF had killed at least 60,000 civilians, most of them women and children.
Their campaign of violence now continues in Kordofan and other parts of Sudan, deepening an already catastrophic humanitarian tragedy.
