Young people depict the future of Sudan | National Geography Day website

In Sudan, where the coup led to uncertainty, young people pursue a better future and look to the distant past.

　In October 2021, a new revolution in Sudan is fragile about to collapse.

　Omar Bassir's 30-year Islamist dictatorship ended in April 2019. This is a sudden development that took place only two and a half years ago. During this period, the Governance Consultative Council, an interim governance body composed of soldiers and civilians, began to take a different path from the suffering Bashir regime of oppression, Genoa (genocide), United Nations sanctions and the separation and independence of South Sudan.

　But around noon on October 25th, weeks after the planned civil handover, the chairman of the ruling council, Lieutenant General Abdul Fatah Burhan, announced the dissolution of the interim regime and put the civilian-born prime minister under house arrest. The public saw the move as a coup, staging mass protests in places such as the capital Khartoum (since then the prime minister resigned and there is no civilian leader in Sudan).

　It appeared to be a coup in the 21st century, and citizens conveyed the situation "live" through social media. I was in the United States and was fascinated by the local situation shown on the computer screen. The opportunity to pursue the situation in Sudan was to interview a group of archaeologists to carry out excavations and investigations in the country with the support of the National Geographic Association. His first visit came months before the fall of the Bashir regime, when Bashir stepped up its crackdown. In preparation for the chaos in the country, the investigation team secretly set an escape route to Egypt.

　In pictures posted on social media in the spring of 2019, young men and women filling streets and squares spoke decisively to demand a new era while demonstrating peacefully. There are impressive videos. A woman in a traditional Sudanese white gown stood in the car, pointing to the twilight sky: "my grandfather is Taharka and my grandmother is one of Kandaka!" "when you shout, many young people will repeat this sentence.

　To tell you the truth, I was surprised. Taharka is the king of Kush who ruled ancient Egypt. Kandaka refers to the common name of Queen Kush or the king's mother. They boldly declared that they would inherit its bloodline. Based in northern Sudan, Taharka and his family built an empire extending from present-day Khartoum to the Mediterranean coast in their heyday.

　The kingdom of Kush, also known as Nubia, has reached its peak of prosperity in the past, but now it only leaves its name on the footnotes of ancient Egyptian history. Even in Sudan, the generation who grew up under the Bashir regime did not seriously study the history of Kush. As for Kush's legacy, not to mention the average Sudanese, it is little known among archaeologists. This is why it suddenly became a slogan shouted by demonstrators on Khartoum Road.

　When he revisited Sudan in January 2020, the post-revolutionary capital seemed hopeful. Just a year ago, women in trousers were whipped in public, but like lies like the past, young people gathered at music festivals and bustled cafes. Everywhere in cities such as streets and tunnels, I saw street artists' portraits of Kush kings and gods, as well as portraits of people who gave their lives for the modern revolution. An estimated 250 demonstrators were killed during or after the revolution.

Next page: a country with about 40% of the population under the age of 15 and an extremely large number of young people

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