Fatma Naib

By Fatma Naib in Middle East on March 9th, 2011
All pictures by Fatma Naib

On International Women’s Day, women rights activists in Egypt called for a one million women march at Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

I arrived in Tahrir around 2pm local time [12GMT] on Tuesday March 8, but was surprised to see the sheer volume of men who outnumbered the women, as if it was International Men’s Day!

However, as the crowd trickled in, it grew into hundreds but very far from the planned one million!

Ironically, the few women, I came across in the beginning, were oblivious of the fact that it was a women's day march.

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By Fatma Naib in Middle East on March 7th, 2011

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By Fatma Naib in Africa on January 18th, 2011
Photo by Fatma Naib

The journey into Darfur started at the break of dawn. I was greeted at the UN airport in Khartoum by personnel who ensured I made it onto the plane.


As we waited in the freezing cold in the open air waiting area, I started to observe the truly international faces around me - Ethiopians, Nigerians and Bulgarians. 

The plane finally arrived. An hour and a half later, the captain announced that we were in Al Fashir, Darfur.

By Fatma Naib in Africa on January 15th, 2011
Photos by Fatma Naib

The week long voting has come to an end and Sudan is preparing for a new chapter of its history. The birth of the world's newest nation is almost certain. The final results that seem to be leaning towards separation will be announced in a few weeks. People in the South have already started to celebrate, but not everyone is rejoicing, as people have mixed emotions about the impact this will have on their lives.

The question of citizenship has been flagged as one of the potential flash points of the referendum. President Omar al Bashir made it clear that no dual citizenship will be allowed. So southerners that would remain here will do so as foreigners.

By Fatma Naib in Africa on January 2nd, 2011
The daughter of Sudan's first president (R) shares the family history [Photos by Fatma Naib]

A day after Sudan marked the 55th anniversary of its independence from British ruling, Jalaa al-Azhari, the daughter of Sudan's first president Ismali al-Azhari, marked the event by half raising the flag. A sign of sadness at the state of the nation in the light of the looming referendum that could see Africa's largest country split in two halves.

As I entered the big former presidential building, I looked up to see the old Sudanese flag with the green, yellow and black colours raised in half. I sensed the somber atmosphere as I looked around the courtyard that had big banners with her father's pictures on the flag with the slogan: A nation that includes everyone.

As the team arrived at the house, kindergarden children started arriving to pay their respect to the first president of Sudan, seeing them diffused the sad mood, it was a moment that exhumed innocence.

By Fatma Naib in Africa on April 6th, 2010
A Bashir campaign poster, which says "symbol of sovereignty" in Arabic, atop a bus window

With only a few days to go before the Sudanese head to the polls, the capital Khartoum is festooned with pictures of Omar al-Bashir, the incumbent president.

Although this is a multi-party election, the absence of campaign posters of other candidates is quite evident.

Quite ironically however, one would not have suspected the country was on the verge of a historic election had it not been for Bashir's campaign images; there is an eerie calm in Sudan.

There have been no election marches or protests, no mass demonstrations of support or opposition and no heavy police presence since I arrived here late on Saturday.

It was as if Khartoum had settled into an unnatural apathy.

I decided to gauge the feelings of the people.

The first person I bumped into was Jihad, a 25-year-old taxi driver.

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