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A festival in honor of indigenous people took place in Omdurman yesterday, on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous people.

Every August 9 people all over the world celebrate indigenous people an the preservation of their culture. In Umbadda El Buheira, Omdurman, the committee of cultural dispersion of the Nuba Mountains heritage organized a festival.

Professor Shamsoun Khamis Kafi, chairman of the committee, called on the Sudanese government to recognize the indigenous people in Sudan and preserve their cultures. He told Radio Dabanga that the idea of the festival started years ago.

“The festival aims to introduce the rights of the indigenous people in Sudan. The idea found a great turnout among the indigenous people in Sudan, especially the Nuba, who have managed to change concepts of preserving their cultures and heritage.”

Professor Shamsoun appealed to the Sudanese government to recognize the indigenous people in Sudan and allow them their rights, particularly to recognise Nuba languages in official institutions.

“The Nuba should be allowed to broadcast about their culture in various Sudanese media. But the government is still refusing to recognize the idea of indigenous people in Sudan.”

The professor also appealed to the indigenous people in Sudan to participate in the annual festival and be in solidarity with each other to obtain their rights. 

The various indigenous people who inhabit the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan are collectively termed Nuba – not to be confused with Nubians, an ethnic group in the region extending from southern Egypt to northern Sudan.

The Sudan Democracy First Group (SDFG) reported in 2016 that religious discrimination has clearly been executed by the Sudanese government on the people of the Nuba Mountains. “The security apparatus appears to consider their churches in Khartoum as centers of undesirable gatherings and their leaders as opinion leaders who are categorized as security threats given their influence in their parishes. This combination of ethnic and religious targeting and discrimination against Sudanese citizens of Nuba Mountains/South Kordofan and Blue Nile origin has become a key tool of the political conflict in the two regions.”

Article courtesy of Dabanga News.  The original article was published Aug 10, 2018.