Mūsā Pasha Ḥamdī

Mūsā Pasha Ḥamdī (; c.1810–1865) was a Turco-Egyptian soldier and politician. He rose to the rank of mīrlivā (major general) in the Egyptian Army and served as the Governor-General of the Sudan from 1862 until his death. He was a man of forceful character and some wealth, owning lands in Fayyūm.

A Circassian by origin, Mūsā entered the Egyptian Army at a time when Egypt was an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire. He was a low-ranking officer when he took part in the fighting around Gallabat during the Egyptian invasion of Ethiopia in 1837. He was first adjutant to the Governor-General Aḥmad Pasha Manliklī during the war against the Beja in 1844. He earned a reputation for cruelty during this campaign. He then led an expedition against Nāṣir ibn Abbukr, the makk of Taqali, in the Nuba Hills before he was appointed governor of Kordofan.

Assessments of his character are generally negative. His methods of tax collection made him unpopular locally, and his successor as governor-general, Jaʿfar Pasha Ṣādiq, considered him corrupt and a drunkard. The French explorer Guillaume Lejean lambasted him as a hangman and slaver, especially towards the Baqqāra, and the British consul in Khartoum, John Petherick, agreed that he was excessively cruel. The German explorer Theodor von Heuglin, however, praised his friendly disposition towards Europeans.