Sudanese in the United Kingdom including Sudanese-born immigrants to the UK and their British-born descendants are an extremely diverse national group, especially in terms of political and religious views. It is thought that the UK is home to the oldest Sudanese diaspora in the Western World, as well as one of the largest. Sudanese migrants to the UK have traditionally included professionals, business people and academics, and more recently have included asylum seekers fleeing Sudan's second civil war. Sudanese people live in many of the UK's largest cities and towns.
History and settlement
The Sudanese community in the UK is most likely the oldest in the developed world. Despite two civil wars and the war in Darfur, which decimated the Sudanese population by several million, the earliest immigrants from Sudan to the UK were not asylum seekers, but mostly professionals, business people and academics. This migration trend lasted until the late 1980s when the Sudanese government was ousted by a military coup led by Omar al-Bashir, who soon claimed presidency over Sudan. The nature of Sudanese migration to the UK changed dramatically and has continued through to the 21st century, when several violent struggles between the Janjaweed militia and numerous rebel groups displaced millions of people, and despite an improving economy in Sudan there remains considerable civil and political unrest in the North African nation. Thousands of these displaced persons ultimately fled to the UK, amongst other countries, and claimed asylum. Asylum applications from Sudan peaked in 1993 and again in 2004. The majority of applications in the early 1990s were accepted, with applicants either granted asylum or exceptional leave to remain, but since 1994, the majority of applications have been refused.
Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim: activist who resided in London. Founder of the ‘Sudanese Women Union’ and later a Sudanese parliamentarian
Leila Aboulela: award-winning writer and novelist. Her story collection Elsewhere, Home was the winner of the 2018 Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award
Mo Abbaro: ceramicist and potter
Mo Ibrahim: telecom businessman. He was among Forbes 2011 billionaire list and the TIME "Top 100" list in 2008
Nima Elbagir: award-winning senior international correspondent for CNN based in London
Nesrine Malik: opinion columnist at The Guardian
Zeinab Badawi: journalist in BBC world
, award-winning Sudanese writer who writes in English and lives in Scotland.
Culture and community
Numerous community groups and organisations have been established across the UK that cater for the country's Sudanese community, from political organisations and trade unions to refugee organisations and other social and community groups. Some groups conform to and are generally based around Sudanese political parties and professional bodies such as the Umma Party and the Sudanese Doctors' Union. The Sudan Human Rights Organisation and the Sudan Organisation Against Torture are two national non-political organisations that have been set up by Sudanese in exile in the UK, and there are also refugee groups that have been set up across the UK to help new immigrants and asylum seekers to adapt to the British lifestyle and help with any other problems and issues. Besides these bodies and entities, there are a number of less informal social and culture groups that have been set up by Sudanese in the UK. Sudanese nationals in the UK are represented by the Embassy of Sudan on Cleveland Row, London, England.
