A Conversation with My Egyptian Friend Who Loves Sudan

By Mahgoub Fadl Badri

Not every Egyptian knows anything substantial about Sudan, although most claim they do — especially taxi drivers! Perhaps this confidence comes from their long interaction with their “brothers” from Sudan and the presence of Sudanese people in Egypt for many decades. But my Egyptian friend — a true lover of Sudan — knows our country closely, through direct experience with its people.

He is Dr Abdel-Aati Al-Mannai, the humane physician and pioneer of medical tourism. Ironically, his first visit to Sudan was not as a doctor but as the business manager of the great philanthropist Sheikh Al-Hajj Saeed Lootah. He travelled to implement a project in Al-Jazira State, where he formed a strong bond with Professor Abd Al-Mun’im Al-Dimyati, Professor Al-Zubair Bashir Taha, General Abd Al-Rahman Sir Al-Khatim, Mr Abd Al-Basit Abd Al-Majid, and many others.

From there, his connections across Sudan widened. He visited the country more than fifty times, lived there for several years, established a branch of the Trafikare Centre, witnessed the outbreak of the war, spent two months in the heart of the fighting in Khartoum, moved on to Madani and then to Port Sudan before leaving for Juba. He has written a book — now in press — documenting part of his testimony of the war.

Dr Al-Mannai told me, in a state of bewilderment, that some of the Sudanese who arrived in Egypt after the war were nothing like those he had always known.
He said: “Egypt has seen many waves of refugees from various Arab countries. But it does not consider Sudanese to be refugees — Egyptians genuinely see Sudanese as brothers, and that is the rule, even if every rule has its exceptions.”

But, he added, the behaviour of some Sudanese groups — who come from a homeland fighting an existential war — is perplexing even to the wise.

Late-night parties, lewd dancing, and frivolous entertainment — he said they had not witnessed such things among any other nationality that came to Egypt before the Sudanese influx after the war.

Most Sudanese are indeed in shock and deep sorrow, yearning to return home. But the spread of such nightlife has overshadowed the suffering faced by Sudanese in Egypt — the hardship of living outside their homeland, facing a daily struggle with life’s harshness.

Meanwhile, Sudanese activists on social media — the fastest and most influential media — are preoccupied with trivialities and windmill battles. In contrast, the official media performs disastrously, producing nothing but a big fat zero.

Speaking of the media, Dr Al-Mannai asked:
“Why is there so little interest from the media of Arab states in what is happening in Sudan? Egypt is no exception. Meanwhile, the UAE — with its known role in the war — runs a highly active negative media campaign across the world.”

He concluded his bewildered reflections by saying that politics is not his concern. Still, the current situation has compelled him to raise these questions with every Sudanese he meets — for he is in love with Sudan and all that is Sudanese.

Thus, my Egyptian friend who loves Sudan left me with nothing to say. The truth spoke through him and left me silent. Our conversation felt as though it came from one side only.

Indeed, what is recounted in Sudanese gatherings in Egypt — or rather in Cairo — about these disgraceful behaviours is indefensible. These are matters that cannot be ignored. Yet what can one do?
O God, guide my people, for they do not perceive — not because they do not know; this does not require knowledge or explanation.

And while generalisation is unjust, it must be noted that there are many honourable, dignified Sudanese families in Egypt living under severe strain in a country where they have no income or relatives to ease their hardship — a country, as the saying goes, “where there is no mercy, even from one’s own mother.”

As for the musicians, singers, and their bands, perhaps they claim necessity — earning a living in a land where the saying goes:
“With money you’re worth something; without it, you’re worth nothing.”
May God curse poverty — it bends the heads of men.
Perhaps they also live by our Sudanese proverb:
“In a country not your own, walk about naked.”
A saying which — flawed as it is — was easier to swallow before the world became a global village where the naked can be seen anywhere.

Forgive me, my dear friend; what you see are the consequences of a war whose aftershocks were never anticipated — at least not in this grotesque form. May it yet be for our good. As the Almighty says:

“Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is hateful to you.
Yet it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you,
and you may love a thing which is bad for you.
God knows, and you do not know.”
— Qur’an 2:216

Through hardship, I have come to distinguish my enemy from my friend.

Shortlink: https://sudanhorizon.com/?p=9462