Comrade Abdel Wahab Sinada, President of FSPITU of Sudan and member of WFTU General Council is no more

World Federation of Trade Unions, press release No. 25, 1 August 2001

With profound grief, the World Federation of Trade Unions announces that Comrade Abdul Wahab Sinada, President of the Federation of Sudanese Professionals’ and Technicians’ Trade Union (FSPTTU) as well as a dedicated fighter for human rights and social progress died on Monday, 30 July 2001.

Born in 1934 in Omdurman and educated in Sudan, he graduated from Khartoum University faculty of medicine in 1958. He worked as a general medical practitioner in the Sudan and later, pursued graduate studies in Czechoslovakia, obtaining his Ph.D. in pediatrics. He briefly worked as a professor of medicine in Tanzania and as a pediatrician in the former People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen. Returning to the Sudan in 1986, he joined the Ministry of Health as a senior consultant.

Since early in his life, he identified himself with the struggle of the working people for their rights and demands as well as for basic human rights. He joined the Sudanese Communist Party in 1949 and was fully engaged in the struggle of the Sudanese people for national independence, democracy and social progress and was a prominent organiser and leader of the trade union movement as well as the movement for democratic rights and liberties. He actively helped to organise and mobilize the progressive intelligentsia in the struggle of the Sudanese trade union movement.

Dr. Sinada and his colleagues played a major role in uniting the working people of the Sudan. Sinada made a decisive contribution to the formation of a united organisation for all the different professional unions and helped establish the Federation of Sudanese Professionals and Technicians’ Trade Union, which became an affiliate of the WFTU. He was its founder-president.

After the military take-over in Sudan and the National Islamic Front’s rule in Sudan in 1989, Dr. Sinada was fully engaged in the struggle for the restoration of democratic rights and liberties. In particular, he was involved in the defence and promotion of trade union rights. During the dark days of repression in the Sudan, Dr. Sinada—who was outside the country—played a major role in mobilizing international solidarity with the struggle of the Sudanese trade union movement. He also played a considerable role in uniting the efforts of the trade unionists who were outside the country.

Dr. Sinada was involved in the establishment and consolidation of the Sudanese Human Rights Organisation (SHRO).

Dr. Sinada was gifted with unique qualities of leadership and combined flexibility with firm adherence to principles. He was a man of high moral qualities.

Dr.Sinada carried forward the great traditions set by former WFTU Vice President Shafie Ahmed El Sheikh and former WFTU President, Ibrahim Zakaria, to bring the Sudanese trade union movement ever closer to the World Federation of Trade unions and the worldwide struggle for workers’ rights and social progress.

Dr Sinada leaves behind him his wife Nadia, his daughter Yasmin and son Tariq.

The WFTU pays homage to the devoted and outstanding contributions of Comrade Abdel Wahab Sinada to defend and advance of the basic rights and interests of the Sudanese working people and trade union movement as well as his active role in promoting unity and united action in the world trade union movement and conveys its condolences to the bereaved family and to the workers and people of Sudan who have suffered an irreparable loss.