El Obeid

 

(äl ūbäyĭd') or El Obeid (ĕl ōbād') , city (1993 pop. 229,425), central Sudan. It is a rail terminus, a road and camel caravan junction, and the end of a pilgrim road from Nigeria. Al Ubayyid is also a trade and transshipment point. Founded by the Turko-Egyptian pashas in 1821, it fell to the Mahdists in 1883 and was destroyed. Its reconstruction followed the fall of the Mahdist empire in 1898.

Al-Ubayyid (also El Obeid) ^[1] (Arabic: الأبيض) is the capital of the state of North Kurdufan in central Sudan. In 1993, its population was 229,425. It is an important transportation hub: the terminus of a rail line, the junction of various roads and camel caravan routes, and the end of a pilgrim route from Nigeria. It was founded by the pashas of Ottoman Egypt in 1821 but was subsequently destroyed by the Mahdists in 1883. It was then rebuilt in 1898 following the fall of the Mahdist empire.

The population of this town is majority Muslim with a small Christian presence. The town today is the site of an international airport and an oil refinery. Al-Ubayyid is home to the University of Kordofan, established in 1990. The United Nations Mission in Sudan has established its Logistics Base there.^[2]

Notes

Coordinates: 13°11′N, 30°13′E

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