SUDAN PERSPECTIVE SUDAN PERSPECTIVE SUDAN PERSPECTIVE

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1 SUDAN PERSPECTIVE SUDAN PERSPECTIVE SUDAN PERSPECTIVE New Sudanese Foreign Minister Contents : A former Postgraduate student in London has been appointed Sudanese Foreign Minister. Professor Ibrahim Ghandour who used to teach at the Faculty of Medicine/ University of Khartoum is an experienced politician who became Assistant to President Bashir. In this capacity, he was invited to Washington by the Obama administration in February last year for discussions of outstanding issues, including the unilateral US sanctions. The new Sudanese Foreign Minister knows the UK very well and has participated in a RUSI roundtable in Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the National Day Page 1 Sand in My Eyes, Sudanese Moments exhibition Page 2 Visit by Minister of Youth and Sport Page 3 Visit by the Embassy to the Sudanese Students in Nottingham University Page 4 Joint Strategic Consultation with the UK Page 5 Prof Ghandour with Federica Mogherini, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Brussels 17th February 2016 Visit by IMO team to Sudan Page 6 President Bashir visits Darfur Page 7 Embassy of the Republic of The Sudan Monthly Newsletter, Issued by the Media Office From left to right: Baroness Amos, Eniko Nagy and HE Ambassador Eltom at the opening of Sand In My Eyes, Sudanese Moments exhibition (more details on Page 2)

2 Celebrating the 60th Anniversary of the National Page 1 Day! Reviving the 60th anniversary of the Inde- The Embassy, keen to share the delight of The occasion was the last public ap- pendence and National Day of Sudan, the the occasion with the wider Sudanese pearance of the veteran Sudanese Embassy organized two events for this community in the UK, organized another ( f ormer BBC ) media personality Mo- great occasion. The first was the reception event which was a pure public Sudanese hammed Khair Elbadawi who ad- hosted at the Institute of Directors ( IOD ) concert in Amba Hotel, Oxford Street, right dressed the participants. on Wednesday 3rd of February. Ambassa- in the heart of London. passed away several days after the dors, diplomats, members of the House of The concert was made a real Sudanese event. Lords, business persons, and representa- portrait by the joy and the dances of the tives from the Sudanese community in Sudanese youth and the presence of fami- London chatted all around the hall while lies who attended the party along with listening to the whispering sounds and mu- their children reflecting different regions sic plays coming out of the violin of Mr and political factions of Sudan, even those Othman Muhieldeen, the Sudanese Musi- well known to be amongst the fiercest op- cian. position parties to the Government! The late Mohammed Khair Elbadawi in his last public appearance Sadly, he Ambassador Eltom, his wife (second from the left), and BBC Zainab Badawi with some guests of the reception Part of the Embassy s concert for the Sudanese community

3 Sand In My Eyes...Sudanese Moments Page 2 Sand in My Eyes, Sudanese Moments was finally held in London after months of preparation and coordination, the travelling exhibition of the book Sand in My Eyes, Sudanese Moments by Eniko Nagy was finally inaugurated at Brunei Gallery, SOAS on the 14th of January in partnership between the Embassy and the Gallery. Sand in My Eyes, Sudanese Moments is a photo book that contains a collection of fables, folk tales and poetic pieces from the folklore of Kordofan region in Sudan where the book depicts the day-to-day life of the people there. The inauguration event was honoured by speeches from HE Mr Mohammed Eltom, Ambassador of Sudan to the United Kingdom, and Baroness Valerie Amos, Director of SOAS, who opened the event, along with the book author Eniko Nagy. One week after, on Thursday 21st of January, the Gallery hosted another event about the exhibition where this one included readings in Arabic and English from the book by two Sudanese ladies and two gentlemen. Attendees of the event, which was public, most of them being from the Sudanese community in London besides other British who are interested in Sudanese culture and affairs, enjoyed watching a 30-minute film about the book s project. Eniko Nagi delivering her speech at the opening ceremony

4 Page 3 Visit by Minister of Youth and Sport The Minister of youth and sport of Sudan, HE Mr Haider Galukuma, visited the UK during rd March to participate in Chatham House s one-day forum on youth and policy engagement in the Horn of Africa. The conference was organized in partnership with the British Council s HOLLA programme which seeks the development of youth s skills in three main countries in the Horn: Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Mr Galukuma presented a paper in which he highlighted the efforts exerted by Sudan to build the youth s capacities and provide them with the space for political engagement in policies which would affect them such as education, employment, peace-building and reconciliation. In his paper, the Minister underscored the challenges faced by the youths in Sudan which are mainly posed by the existence of the unjust unilateral US s economic sanctions. HE Haider Galukuma, Minister of Youths and Sport of Sudan HE Galukuma with Ambassador Omer Elamin, DHoM of Sudan in London

5 Page 4 Visit by the Embassy to the Sudanese Students in Nottingham University On Friday 18 th of March, Mr Musab Ismail, the Second Secretary at the Embassy visited the Sudanese students at the University of Nottingham. Mr Musab, together with Ms Helen Rylands, International Sponsors and Scholarships Manager at the University, and the Sudanese Dr Siddig Omer, associate professor at the Institute of Sustainable Energy Technology, met with a number of the Sudanese students, all of them are post graduate students, at one of the campus s classes. The meeting witnessed an interesting exchange of views on various issues related to academia and the students current conditions among all of the attendees and between the students at one side and Mr Musab, as the Embassy s representative, at the other. The visit came exactly as panned by the Embassy for its activities for the year 2016 and out of its keenness to communicate with the Sudanese students in the UK and to maintain and elevate its level of cooperation with the UK universities.

6 Page 5 Joint Strategic Consultation with the UK On the 20 th and 21 st of March, Khartoum hosted the first round of the strategic consultation that has kicked off between Sudan and the United Kingdom. The talks were presided by Ambassador Dafa Allah Elhaj, Director General of bilateral and regional affairs at the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, and by Ambassador Neil Wigan, Director for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office ( F CO ). The consultations included various subjects of mutual concern such as countering human trafficking and illegal immigration, the parties also agreed to increase the level of bilateral economic and cultural cooperation. Furthermore, playing a more effective role in bringing the armed opposition factions in Sudan to sit for peaceful talks with the government so as to secure peace for the country was asserted during the consultations. And to follow up and proceed with the stream of such significant strategic discourses, the parties agreed on holding the consultations alternately on a bi-annual basis in the two friendly countries. The consultations are a potential turning point in the relations between the two countries. There is optimism at the Embassy in London where the initiative was first made. Ambassador Neil Wigan (left) and Ambassador Dafa Allah Elhaj Prof Ghandour with Ambassador Wigan UK Ambassador to Sudan, Michael Aron (left), Ambassador Neil Wigan (centre) and Prof Ghandour

7 Visit by IMO team to Sudan Page 6 After one whole year of coordination and communication between the Embassy, the International Maritime Organization ( I MO ), and the respective maritime authorities in Sudan, a visit by a team including a representative from IMO and one from World Maritime University ( WMU ) to assess the needs of Sudan in the maritime sector was carried out during 7-11 February. The visit came as a response to the request presented by the Government of Sudan to benefit from the technical cooperation services rendered by the Organization. IMO is the UN agency specialized in the safety, security and environmental performance of international shipping. Portsudan harbour at day and night

8 Page 7 President Bashir visits Darfur In preparation for the Darfur Referendum that will determine whether to keep the current five states or abolish them, the President will tour Darfur ( 1-5 April) accompanied by Sudanese and international media. BBC Arabic, BBC World as well as First Magazine will cover the tour. The Referendum is one of the requirements of the Doha Document for Peace in Darfur( ) which was adopted by the Sudanese government and rebel groups and supported by t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l c o mmunity ( i ncluding the US,UK and Qatar which hosted the long mediation process ). The decrease in the flow of oil from South Sudanese wells is felt by us too. Displacement of South Sudanese citizens puts pressure on our meagre facilities. The main challenge in Darfur now is reconstruction not security. The remnants of the rebels have moved to South Sudan or Libya. President Bashir at the OIC s Extraordinary Summit on Palestine and Alaqsa Elshareef, Jakarta, March 2016 Contact us: Tel: info@sudan-embassy.co.uk Address: 3 Cleveland Row, St James s, London SW1A 1DD Embassy of the Republic of The Sudan Monthly Newsletter issued by the Media Office April 2016