A public reading library was inaugurated on Thursday at the El Daein Cultural Club in East Darfur State. The initiative, a collaboration between the Qanadeel Cultural Forum, the Lamtna Kitab Cultural Forum, and the Youth for Peace Network, received support from South Sudanese novelist Stella Gaetano.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj, Hamid Ahmed Mualla, an official from Qanadeel Cultural Forum, the concept for the public library originated from Estella Gaetano’s initiative. The project aims to supply books to public libraries in El Daein, Nyala, and Nertiti.
Mualla stated, “The goal of this project is to revitalize writing activities and raise awareness, particularly among the youth. The objective is to promote a culture of acceptance and make a transformative impact through the written word, aiming to bring about positive change and silence the noise of war.”
Journalist Abu Bakr Al-Sandali emphasized that the Al-Daein Cultural Library is a significant addition to East Darfur State, which has lacked public libraries in recent years. He highlighted the diverse collection of religious, cultural, scientific, and children’s books available on the library shelves.
Al-Tahir Abdel-Rahman Jibril, one of the library’s pioneers, expressed his joy at the establishment of a public cultural library. He noted that in an era dominated by technology and smartphones, there is a crucial need to rekindle interest in reading and information. Jibril emphasized the importance of bridging the past with the present through the medium of books.
Sudan has been mired in a bloody conflict since mid-April.
The war between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to 12,000 deaths, devastated the capital Khartoum, forced some 7 million people to flee their homes and sparked waves of ethnic killings in the Darfur region. At least 1.4 million are refugees in neighbouring countries of Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt.
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