Back to our old notebooks – from reality – ✍️ Professor Awad Ibrahim Awad See More

In the past, our people used to say: “When a merchant goes bankrupt, he returns to his old books.” Since we are penniless and destitute in Hodeidah, and the country is narrow for us with all its space, and conferences, meetings and quarrels have multiplied around us, which has not solved the problem of Sudan and has not put an end to these bitter fights, I returned this Friday morning to my old notebooks and found there this historical memorandum presented by Professor Ibrahim Ahmed, President of the General Conference of Graduates, on April 3, 1942 A.D., to the Governor General of Sudan, during the situation of the Sudanese. The situation has deteriorated and all means of solving the dilemma of the brutal occupation were closed at that time. The memorandum stated: Your Excellency: The General Conference of Graduates has the honour to submit to Your Excellencies, in your capacity as representatives of the governments of Their Majesties, King George VI of Great Britain and King Farouk I of Egypt, the following memorandum, which expresses the current demands of the Sudanese people. The world development and the events of the current war have given people a strong desire to achieve human justice and freedom of peoples. This has also been revealed by the statements of British politicians and the charters of international democrats. Sudan, as one of the peoples who have joined forces with the British Empire in this war since its outbreak, has properly realized its rights as a people seeking life after nearly half a century under organized rule. The General Conference of Graduates, which represents an enlightened public opinion and is a ripe fruit of bilateral governance, testifies to the greatness of its responsibility towards its country and all its citizens. He therefore submits this memorandum, hoping that it will find the appreciation it deserves and the reception it covets. He is still convinced that it honestly expresses the inclinations and aspirations of this country by: 1. Publishing as soon as possible a joint declaration by the British and Egyptian governments granting the Sudan, within its geographical boundaries, the right to self-determination immediately after the war. and surrounding this right with guarantees that guarantee the freedom of expression of this right, just as it guarantees the Sudanese the right to adapt natural rights to Egypt by a special agreement between the Egyptian and Sudanese peoples. 2. Establishing a representative body of the Sudanese to approve the budget and laws. 3. Establishing a higher education council with a Sudanese majority and allocating not less than 12% of the budget to education. 4. Separation of the judiciary from the executive. 5. Abolish the closed area laws and lift restrictions on trade and movement of Sudanese within Sudan. 6. Draft legislation specifying Sudanese nationality. 7. Stop immigration to Sudan, unless otherwise provided for in the Anglo-Egyptian treaty. 8. Not renew the contract of the agricultural enterprise on the island.

9. (a) To implement the principle of social protection and priority in employment, by giving the Sudanese the opportunity to participate effectively in governance by appointing Sudanese to politically responsible positions in all branches of government. 9. (b) To limit employment to Sudanese citizens. As for positions to be filled by non-Sudanese, they shall be filled by limited-term contracts during which Sudanese are trained to fill them at the end of the term. 10. To allow the Sudanese to invest in the commercial, agricultural and industrial resources of the country. 11. To establish a law requiring companies and commercial firms to allocate a reasonable percentage of their jobs to Sudanese. 12. To stop subsidies to missionary schools and to unify the educational programmes in the North and the South. These are the demands whose response we consider as satisfying the desires of the Sudanese at the present time. The Conference counts on your assistance and hopes to obtain approval and the beginning of its implementation. Please accept, Your Excellency, the highest respect. Your obedient servant Ibrahim Ahmed, President of the General Conference of Graduates, Omdurman on April 3, 1942 AD. This memorandum has been submitted by the Committee of the Conference of Graduates, consisting of the following members: Mr. Ibrahim Ahmed as President, Mr. Ismail Al-Azhari as Vice President, Mr. Ahmed Khair, Mr. Abdel Halim Muhammad, Mr. Ibrahim Othman. Ishaq, Mr. Ismail Atbani, Mr. Ibrahim Youssef Suleiman and Mr. Khidr Hamad, Mr. Abdul Majid Ahmed, Mr. Awad Satti, Mr. Muhammad Ibrahim Hashem, Mr. Nasr Al-Haj Ali, Mr. Ahmed Youssef Hashem. , and Mr. Abdullah Mirghani.

Oh my God, of the fragrant history of our nation, which eventually led to the liberation and independence of Sudan, the first country to achieve this honor on the continent of sub-Saharan Africa. Are we not protesting today against such men in these unfortunate circumstances, especially after plots and quarrels have besieged us, and now we see a glimmer of hope in the contact of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates with the commander of the Sudanese army?

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