Beja Cultural Day report

A Beja band performs on Capitol Hill (Enough - Juliana Stebbins) 

An excellent article captures the spirit of the Beja Cultural Day, held in Washington DC on February 1. It also offered background material and links to more details of the difficult situation of many Beja people.

A diverse group of activists, diaspora, and Congressional staff came together on Capitol Hill last week to draw attention to the marginalization of the Beja people of eastern Sudan by celebrating the group’s rich history and culture.

To publicize the plight of the Beja people, the Beja Congress, Beja Friends, and the Institute on Religion and Democracy hosted a Beja Cultural Day to bring to light the silenced atrocities occurring in eastern Sudan and to encourage lawmakers to actively engage on eastern Sudanese issues as well as provide assistance to the region.

While the afternoon was filled with festive traditional dancing and live music, a panel of representatives from Beja advocacy groups, prominent members of the Beja diaspora, and Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a champion for Sudan issues in the House of Representatives, used the event to convey the desperate state of eastern Sudan and commemorate those who died in the January 2005 Port Sudan Massacre.

Read the complete article at enoughproject.org. Another report of the day's events has been published by the Institute of Religion and Democracy.