''Omdurman'' () was a communist publication issued from

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

1945-1946, directed towards Sudanese community in Egypt. The group of Sudanese communists that worked around the journal would later return to Sudan and build the

Sudanese Communist Party The Sudanese Communist Party ( abbr. SCP; ) is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab ...

. In 1944

Henri Curiel Henri Curiel (13 September 1914 – 4 May 1978) was a left-wing political activist in Egypt and France. Born in Egypt, Curiel led the communist Democratic Movement for National Liberation until he was expelled from the country in 1950. Settling ...

recruited a small group of Sudanese students in Cairo to his

Egyptian Movement for National Liberation ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years ...

(HAMTU), and ''Omdurman'' became the organ of this group. The first issue was published on 15 March 1945. At the time ''Omdurman'' was one of two legal publications linked to HAMTU. Issues of ''Omdurman'' included editorial column, news coverage, political commentaries, articles on science, poetry, cultural and music reviews and specific sections for students and women. The ''Omdurman'' faction consisted of some 25-30 individuals. Muhammad Amin Husayn al-Muhami was the owner of the periodical, whilst Abdu Dhahab Hasanayn was its editor.
Cahiers d'histoire
', Issues 74-77. Espaces Marx, 1999. p. 95 ''Omdurman'' became popular among Sudanese in Cairo. It was read by hundreds of Sudanese students, who otherwise were generally unable to obtain sufficient news coverage from their home country.
Z pola walki
'. Ksia̜żka i Wiedza., 1974. p. 194-195 Whilst mainstream Egyptian parties supported the notion of Egyptian-Sudanese union, HAMTU supported the right of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of Sudan and that Egyptian and Sudanese peoples should fight together against British imperialism. As of 1946 ''Omdurman'' argued that 'those here, in Egypt, that call for unity without talking about self-determination are not less dangerous than those, in Sudan, that call for separation.'Didar D. Fawzy-Rossano.
Le Soudan: problèmes du passage de la création de l'état à la libération de la nation, Volume 1
'. Service de reproduction des thèses, Université de Lille III, 1981. p. 492 ''Omdurman'' focused heavily on questions on Sudanese social, economic, political and cultural issues. It talked about the conditions of Sudanese students in Egypt. The publication had significant impact on the first generation of leaders of the Sudanese communist movement.

Abdel Khaliq Mahjub Abdel Khaliq Mahjub () (23 September 1927 – 28 July 1971) was a Sudanese communist politician. Mahjub was born in Omdurman. He served as the General Secretary of the Sudanese Communist Party until his death by execution in Khartum during the G ...

, Abdu Dhabab Hasnayan and Shafeah Ahmed travelled to

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum is the capital city of Sudan as well as Khartoum State. With an estimated population of 7.1 million people, Greater Khartoum is the largest urban area in Sudan. Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile – flo ...

, to build the communist movement there. The ''Omdurman'' group met with a small Khartoum-based faction of communists, that had been organized by a British soldier named Herbert Storey (member of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

), and on 10 August 1945 the two factions agreed to build the Sudanese Movement for National Liberation as a united organization (by 1946 the Sudanese Movement for National Liberation - which later became the Sudanese Communist Party - had been established). The last issue of ''Omdurman'' was published on 1 July 1946. ''Omdurman'' was shut down on 12 July 1946, as part of a crackdown by the

Ismail Sidky Ismail Sidky Pasha (; 15 June 1875 – 9 July 1950) was an Egyptian politician who served as Prime Minister of Egypt from 1930 to 1933 and again in 1946. Life and career He was born in Alexandria and was originally named Isma'il Saddiq but his ...

government against leftist movements and publications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Omdurman Magazines established in 1945 Magazines disestablished in 1946 Defunct magazines published in Cairo Defunct Arabic-language magazines Defunct political magazines published in Egypt Defunct communist magazines 1945 establishments in Egypt 1946 disestablishments in Egypt Banned magazines Censorship in Egypt