Background
Abdullah El Hassan was born in 1925 at Tokar on the Red Sea.
Abdullah El Hassan was born in 1925 at Tokar on the Red Sea.
Educated at Gordon Memorial College and the School of Administration, Khartoum.
Joined the Ministry of Interior in 1949 and rose to be district commissioner in 1956. Transferred to the Foreign Ministry in 1956 and was appointed Consul-General to Uganda and Kenya. Returned to Khartoum in August 1958 and promoted head of the Political Section at the Foreign Ministry in 1959.
Promoted Ambassador to Ghana in October 1960. Four years later he became director of the Ministry of Information and Labour. In February 1965 he was appointed Ambassador to France. From 1967 to 1969 he was Ambassador to Ethiopia. In July 1969 he became Under-Secretary at the Foreign Ministry. He was sent to Moscow as Ambassador in January 1970 but he was recalled as a mark of displeasure to the Russians in July 1971 after the defeat of the pro-Communist coup in Khartoum. After a year in London as Ambassador he was promoted to the cabinet.
Senior career-diplomat brought into government after proving his ability in handling delicate problems as an ambassador in Paris, Moscow and London. Thickset with a soft precise voice, a man who assesses situations shrewdly and makes decisions and friends quickly. His rise in the cabinet was dramatic. Straight from diplomacy he became Minister of Natural Resources. Eight months later, he was given the key post of Interior Minister.