R 240616Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 3059
INFO DARFUR COLLECTIVE
IGAD COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000247 
 
 
STATE FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG, AF/E, AF/PDPA, IIP/G/AF, RRU-AF 
NSC FOR HUDSON DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
DEPT FOR ARS PARIS 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL SOCI AU MCAP KPAO OIIP OPRC SU
SUBJECT: AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY PROGRAMS SPUR IDENTITY DISCUSSION 
IN SUDAN 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY: The Public Affairs Section (PAS) in Khartoum and 
the U.S. Consulate General in Juba cast a wide net within civil 
society for this year's African-American History Month programming. 
Participants sought to learn from America's experience in combating 
racism, addressing cultural diversity and, ultimately, arriving at a 
sense of national identity.  Pulled in two directions, Sudan's 
population feels it belongs to both the Arab world and to Black 
Africa.  Discussions explored how the country can reconcile the two 
and, through this meeting point, establish the nation's strength. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The program began in Juba with a discussion via Digital 
Video Conference (DVC) with Africa Regional Services (ARS) Paris. 
With the Consul General as moderator, in Juba, Cultural Affairs 
Officer Sheldon Austin discussed President Barack Obama's 
autobiography "Dreams from My Father" to an audience of university 
students, professors and local media.  Like the Kenyans, southern 
Sudanese "claim" President Obama as one of their own due to ethnic 
and kinship ties.  Interest in the topic was high.  Participants 
sought clarity on what President Obama's Africa policy would be, how 
he could have a Muslim father and profess a belief in Christianity, 
and why he would write a book on his father when it was his mother 
who taught him the lessons of life.  The program was a first in Juba 
and demonstrated strong interest there in follow-up discussions on 
related topics.  Participants put election-related issues at the top 
of their list of priorities for the next event. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In Khartoum, PAS partnered with the Juba University 
Equatoria Students Cultural Association (JUESCA) for outreach to the 
far-flung Kadaro Campus of the University of Juba.  JUESCA brings 
together some sixteen ethnic groupings of the South.  The campus had 
not benefited from any U.S. Embassy programming in the past and was, 
in fact, initially resistant to the idea.  However, as southerners 
in northern Sudan, these largeQe"@ 
classes to permit students to attend. 
 
¶4. (SBU) "African-American Experience: First-Hand Testimonies" 
featured a panel of seven African-Americans. Of these, four gave 
presentations.  The latter topics addressed issues of duality: 
"First Impressions of the United States (Myth Versus Reality)"; "The 
African Diaspora Experience," "Growing up African, Becoming 
American"; "What Is Positive in American Society for 
African-Americans, and What Still Needs to Change."  Discussion was 
lively and enabled students to dispel many popularly-held 
misconceptions about the present state of race relations in America 
and about African-Americans' sense of identity and assimilation into 
American society.  The frank and open dialogue created a bond 
between the university and the Embassy, one which students and 
administrators asked PAS to continue in the form of future 
partnerships.  In written comments about the program, one student 
asked the Embassy to "assist students with effective skills in 
communication, language, management, and leadership."  The Embassy 
made generous use of america.gov articles as well as IIP 
publications and resource suggestions. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The ARS Paris-led Khartoum DVC combined an audience of 
intellectuals, journalists, nongovernmental organization 
representatives and two VIPs.  Speaker Eddy Harris hit a raw nerve 
with his topic "Black Americans/Black Africans: What Are the 
Commonalities beyond Race?" as issues of race and national belonging 
are still sensitive in Sudan.  Participants asked repeatedly how 
they could learn from the American experience and use it to their 
advantage, given Sudan's racial, ethnic and religious diversity. 
Many stated they were pulled in two opposite directions: toward the 
Arab world as well as the African heartland.  One participant 
recalled emotionally how at a conference in England, two opposing 
groups - one Arab and the other Black African - literally pulled on 
each of her arms in an attempt to get her to join their respective 
sides.  As a solution to the dichotomy, an educator participating 
via DVC proposed that Sudan be the "meeting point."  "[Sudan] is the 
combination that brings people together," he noted, with regard to 
the participant's crisis of identity.  Eddy Harris ably fielded 
challenging questions about accepting diversity and fostering 
citizenship, suggesting, "the nation state is the new tribe of the 
modern world." 
 
¶6.  (SBU) At Omdurman Islamic University student center,  the 
Information Resource Center (IRC) presented the film "Everyday Use," 
based on the homonymous novel by Alice Walker.  Three lecturers and 
twenty-two students joined for this screening and discussion. IRC 
material on African-American literature, the short story text, and 
biography of the author were distributed. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) English-language independent daily "Khartoum Monitor," 
which presents a southern Sudan editorial and reporting line, ran a 
quarter-page article on February 21 about the Juba University 
cultural dialogue encounter.  It quoted one of the panelists, who 
praised President Barack Obama as a role model: "The most powerful 
man in the world has a lovely family, which is showing the physical 
and moral beauty of Black America at its best." 
 
FERNANDEZ