All set for Sudan culture festival in Nairobi

Popular Sudanese musicians John Kudusay and Issam Mohamed Nour are among those lined up to participate in the first Sudanese cultural festival in Nairobi that starts Sunday.

The Sudanese Embassy and the Sudanese Community League in Nairobi said the three day event at the Bomas of Kenya will be used to “celebrate peace and highlight coexistence under the theme Sudan Cultural Diversity and Historical Perspective.

The event, the first of its kind to be held in Nairobi, will be attended by over 45 delegates from North and South Sudan.

Singer Issam is from northern Sudan while Kudusay is from the south.

The two regions fought a bitter 21-year battle, which left two million people dead and four million displaced before a peace deal was reached in Nairobi in 2005.

Referendum

According to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), the southerners are to decide in a referendum next year whether the region should secede from Africa’s biggest country.

The referendum, the first democratic election after 25 years slated for April and the emergence of massacres in previously peaceful areas in the south have, however, sparked fresh tensions between the south and north, threatening peace efforts.

Thirteen dancers of Kwato Dancing Group, representing the whole of Sudan will showcase the country’s diverse dance cultures at the Bomas fete.

She said the event will be a big opportunity for Sudanese born in Kenya to learn their culture.

Ms Sumaya urged Kenyans to attend the extravaganza to “sample Sudan’s diverse cultures.”

The cultural extravaganza will coincide with the marking of five years since the CPA was signed.