Gadaref: The Peace Haven of Eastern Sudan

Source: www.angelfire.com         Location: Kampala, Uganda
Created By: Francis Mwathi on 6-May-2008 2:29 AM

With the East African Telecentre Leaders Forum (EATLF) scheduled to be held on the days of 8th to 10th June 2008 in the Sudanese state of gadaref, many people within the telecentre Movement will be setting foot on the Sudanese state of Gadaref for the first time. With a population of over 1.8 million people spanning across an area of about 75,263 km2 and a history dating as far back as the 16th century all participants should expect an eyeful.

The word Gedarif (abbreviation QAD) is deprived from the Arabic phrase All Gada-Ye-rif, meaning ‘he who had finished selling or buying should leave’. The word was latter converted to Al-Gadarif (English version “Gedaref”). The story of the name begins when Arab nomad tribes zooming the area of Butanah plains in the Mid-east of the Sudan, chose the place where the city is built as a market place to exchange their commercial commodities with indigenous people. When the sun sets, a herald used to call on the people (AIli- Gada-ye-rif ….Alli -Gada-ye-rif); asking every one who has finished his deal in the market should leave so that the market could be closed in time. Soon al-Gada-ye-rif market place developed into a village; then a town with dwellers planting its fertile soil with sorghum, sesame, peanuts and vegetables. Its green plains during the rainy seasons attracted many nomad herds and peasants from neighboring areas.


The written history of the city dates back to the 16th century when a Scottish explorer James Bruce passed through it in 1772 on his way to the sources of the Blue Nile in Abyssinia (Ethiopia).He called it Teawa (Tewawa nowadays is a name given to a hill lies west to the town). He wrote about its sheikh whose name was Fidele as a vassal subordinate to the King of Sennar.
During the Turkish rule Al-Gedarif became an administrative unit with a strong military garrison. The Mahdiya state preserved this statute and the city was used as a base to conquer other places in the area and neighbouring countries. The City is divided administratively and socially into districts (Diems) the more famous deims being: Deim Bakur, Deim El Nur, salamt al Bey, Al- midan, Deim Abbas,Deim Saukin, Deim Saad. The Greater Gedaref area includes many rural districts and villages such as Um Shagara, Al-Sufi Al-Bashir, Al-Sufi Al-Azraq, Abbayo. In 1994 Gedarif became the capital of Gedarif State which includes Gedarif city, Faw, Gallabat, and Fashaga areas. Gedaref is a trade center of grains and a well-known agriculture area where a Mechanized Scheme of Agriculture has been introduced since 1954. Machines carry out all stages of cultivating. Seventy of the total mechanized farming in the Sudan is carried out in Gedaref. The aim of the Mechanized Farming is to develop areas. Many individual farms grew suddenly and scattred over the whole area surrounding Gedarif such as Um-seinat, Al-Ghadambliya etc.

The city is linked with Khartoum (The capital city of Sudan) by a net of roads, rail road, and seasonal direct roads. It is also linked to Port Sudan with roads and rail road at a distance of about 200 km. There are also roads to the Galabat at the edge of the boundary with Ethiopia connecting Gedarif with the Ethiopian city of Gonder. The city has also an air port at al-azaza area (its international air port code is GSU).

The population of Gedaref which was mainly formed of Arab nomad tribes of Shukriya during the early history of city has rapidly changed in the last century. Dwellers who belong to various nationalities had settled in the area along with the indigenous people. Today the mosaic of population includes many Sudanese tribes from different regions as far as, Dar Fur, Kordufan, Southern and Northern Sudan. The Shaighiyas, the Beggaras, the Dinkas, the Fur, the Nubas, the Massalits and many other Sudanese tribes are represented in Gedaref. No other city in The Sudan, with exception of Khartoum and Port Sudan has so many dwellers of Foreign origin among its population, as Gedaref. Kurds, Arminians, Panian of India, Greeks, Egyptian Copts, Ethiopians, Eritrean, Somalis, Nigerians, Chadians, Yemenis, and Italians has been Sudanized since generations and well integrated in the Gedaref's society. The main reason for this gathering of foreign and local groups of people in Gedarif can be attributed to the Agricultural boom that swept the city and turned it to a major center of trade in the area. With the cultivation of sesame seed, sunflower, cotton, peanuts and cereals especially sorghum, Gedaref has become the country's granary.

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Contact Name: Francis Mwathi

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