The Season of Migration to the North
Osman Mirghani
In my recent visit to Cairo, I met with several Sudanese community officials and was shocked by horrible figures which indicate that the Sudanese crisis is escalating tremendously. I learned that there are more than 4 million Sudanese who are seeking refuge in Egypt, most of them are not just crossing tourists, but they are looking for permanent migration accompanying their families.
About 22 thousand Sudanese students are studying in Egyptian governmental universities paying the same fees as the national students. The Egyptian universities are open to the Sudanese without exception. More than 110 Sudanese schools are teaching the Sudanese syllabus to accommodate the increasing number of Sudanese students who prefer to sit for the Sudan School Certificate. Last year more than 4 thousand Sudanese students in Egypt sat for the Sudan School Certificate exams.
All those numbers do not include the patients, or those who are dreaming to sail to Europe through Egypt illegally.
Most of those millions of Sudanese who are seeking refuge in Egypt are not all poor or looking for work, but some of them are rich enough but they are looking for dignified living conditions.
There are 10 direct daily flights from Khartoum to Cairo and about 20 buses leave Sudan for Egypt.
This sweeping immigration might reflect the warm relations between the people of the two countries, but the other side of the coin reveals the hopelessness of the Sudanese in general that the situation will improve despite the optimistic talk about the natural resources of the country.
All the coups in Sudan came as a result of political parties’ actions and moves. Those political parties, whenever feeling that they failed, they hand power to the military as revenge from other competing parties e.g. Abboud (1958), Nimerie (1969), Al-Bashir (1989).
The deterioration of the situation is at its edge a matter that requires legislation that bans the political organizations from interfering in the civil service issues and to make the political pitch limited in the sovereignty scope which expressed the power and not the government.
