Ali Abd al Latif

Ali Abd al-Latif (; ) was a prominent Sudanese nationalist who served as a key member of the White Flag League and played a prominent role in the 1924 Khartoum revolt.

Early life and family Latif was born in 1896 in the northern Sudanese border town of Wadi Halfa.

His father, Abd al-Latif Ahmad, was a Nuba and a former slave and soldier from the Nuba Mountains. His mother, al-Sabr hailed from the Dinka of Bahr El Ghazal and had formerly been a slave in al-Khandaq before marrying his father. She was thought to have had a huge influence to young Ahmad. Ahmad too had originally been a household slave in al-Khanadaq, then a center of commerce. He was later acquired by Mahdist forces under Wad el Nujumi to serve in the Mahdists 1889 invasion of Egypt. Ahmad either deserted or was taken prisoner by Anglo-Egyptian forces following the Battle of Toski, and ended up enlisted in the Egyptian Army. After several years in the Egyptian Army, during which he rose to the rank of Lieutenant, Latif was dismissed for political reasons.

Political career In 1921 Latif founded the United Tribes Society; an organisation that called for an independent Sudan in which power would be shared by tribal and religious leaders. Latif gained prominence in 1922, after he wrote an article for the al-Hadarah newspaper supporting the cause of sedition and Sudanese nationalism. In the article, titled "Claim of the Sudanese Nation," Latif pressed for Sudanese self-determination, more education, an end to the sugar monopoly, and higher posts for Sudanese in the Anglo-Egyptian administration.

Whilst the article was ultimately not published due to objections by the editor, Latif was arrested, tried, and sentenced to a year imprisonment. The trial however gained significant publicity and coverage in the Egyptian press, and Latif would emerge from prison significantly more popular than he had been when he went in.