Sudan The Present Absent in IGAD
21 December, 2025
There is no doubt Sudan has huge soft power potentials. It is equally certain that Sudan has shown, and indeed made very little effort, to positively make use of such a huge power and authority.
One might argue that to make use of its hard power potentials might require up to par technology, huge capital investment and political leverage for the extraction of uranium or even cultivation of millions of arable lands in the far north to far south and from far west to far east, and from mountainous potent slopes to rich easy cultivable plain prairies and sands.
These are challenges that might require importing something from outside the Sudan to make use of the resources and to add value to them. That could be understood to be a little bit difficult and costly.
But then what about things that we practice, we enjoy, we create at home, things that are within our daily happiness and joy practices, our arts, our languages, our dances, our dresses,our lyrics. They don’t require importing anything at all.
These are the resources that we don’t make use of. Resources that other nations envy us and indeed they sometimes make positive use of them. And we see challenges there while others see potentials.
What appears to be a point of weakness, that is the diverse cultural linguistic, social, ethnic , linguistic and artistic heritage, is in fact Sudan's points of strength if it could use it well, which up to now it showed little interest of awareness to use.
To drive my point home, am going to cite three incidents that occurred during a much celebrated events that took place in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, at the end of the month of November 2025: the Award handed to media and influencers in East Africa. This was an event organized by the East African Inter-governmental Authority for Development (IGAD).
And to put this in context, one has to state that Sudan, over how the organization handled the issue of the current war in the county, froze its membership, until a new approach is considered by the organization. You would understand this is a primarily government sub-regional organization, as such it would bow to the governments policies, because this is its mandate. It would not look into what other people opposed to the government in place think or demand, except within the context of mediation and within the context of serving the interest of the people in the region.
The best decision at the time was that the Sudan should not pull out no matter what.
First Sudan was a founding member, if not THE founding member, second it should not leave a vacant space for others to fill: the argument is that if you are in full control of the army, the diplomacy-that the ministry of foreign affairs, the central bank and the police, then you are the government. Having said this I will go back to my point of departure.
in that celebration all diplomatic representatives from member states were there. Government official from member states were there. I could see a junior diplomat from the Sudan embassy but that was that.
I was member of the jurors, and one of the country leads, that was the group that assess and evaluate the participation from journalists from member states who name the candidates for the IGAD Media and public outreach to name the finalists and the winners.
In that event which Addis Ababa, 28-30 November, journalists and IGAD leadership, from all countries of IGAD to the exception of Eritrea, were there.
Hundreds of journalists competed for a reward devoted to those writing about issues related to environment, to issues specifically related to the IGAD region.
Once again very few Sudanese journalists cared to take part in the competition, therefore very few submissions were made, which were not representative of the richness of the Sudanese media and journalism landscape. And it was clear that lack of foreign language mastery was the main reason.
The ceremony went as smooth as one could hope, and then the celebrations started. That was the moment I could not contain my emotion.
The ceremony and the celebration started by a statement, the main statement, delivered by IGAD secretary general, Workneh Gebeyehu, who devoted a quarter of his statement about the Sudan, though the ceremony was about journalism and award. He cited the plight of igad member the sudean and said igad leadership and people remembe the sudanese people and their suffering and that IGAD would do its atmost to help sudeanese people regain security and peace.
Then the bombshell hit me. They used the Sudanese folkloric dances and the sudanese music as starter and back ground to show all sthe beauties of in the member states of igad region, the dances, the livestock, the birds, the people, thelyuria nd the rythem and the main flocloric dancers. The started with Sheikh Abdul Rahim al Burae litanies.
Then the statements resumed. After which there was a break and the break was beautified by Wardi’s music and songs, and then this was followed by a western Sudan folkloric dances, then the pyramids in far northern Sudan. It was so emotional to see people dancing to the rythem of Sudanese songs and lyrics, the tune of the Sudanese singers.
What moved me to the pinacles of esctacywas when the main ethiopian singer was came to stage, Melat Kelemework, she not only sang Wardi but equally curent Sudanese singers from central and eastern sudan, amin abdul Ghafar to Taha ٍSulieman… I could not hold my emotion at that moment.
I entered the arena and danced, in a way I have never done, there was no Sudanese around me, then the people started pouring and pouring into the dancing floor, then I saw a Sudanese doing the ABSHIR.. and I felt something you never feel until you are outside Sudan, in a European wilderness and all of sudden you hear somebody say, yazool.
This is our soft-power that we are not using, we are not propagating.
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