Safaa Tutu

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Safaa Jabir Tutu is a Sudanese woman who won the beauty pageant title Miss Nuba Mountains in 2016. She is originally from conflict-affected South Kordofan. With the rise of armed rebel movements against the former Bashir-led government in Sudan, Tutu and her family were forcibly displaced, to reside in the outskirts of Khartoum, where she was adamant to complete her higher education at Ahfad University for Women.

In the attendance of Jerry Lanier, US Chief of Mission in Sudan, Mr. Jan, EU ambassador in Sudan, in addition to a number of tribe leaders, state representatives, local and international media agencies, the official inauguration ceremony of Tutu as the queen of the Nuba Mountains, for the year 2016, and in competition with 5 other candidates took place. Tutu was chosen due to her alliance with the competition’s selection criteria; she had a vision for her proactive contribution to social development, was strongly attached to her Sudanese and specifically Nubian heritage, portrayed pride in being a Black woman, and spoke the language of the indigenous group she belongs to. Tutu was keen to mention in her first speech as a queen, to urge the competition’s higher committee, in addition to identity and culture enthusiasts, to exert effort in initiating a teaching academy fully focused on Nubian culture and heritage. She also emphasized how this title is, in fact, a responsibility that she carries towards the young people in her homeland, the Nuba Mountains. She closed her speech by paying tribute to her parents, who passed away amid the political turmoil and unstable security conditions in the region of South Kordofan.

Tutu had direct and active contribution in the December 2019 Sudanese revolution, where her presence was caught in the initial demonstrations up to the sit-in in front of the military HQ. In her conversation with Sky News Arabia, Tutu elaborated on her role in the revolution and stated: “being part of the revolution is a national responsibility against a government of oppression; we have invented the streets, and the streets never lie”. Tutu’s resilience materialized in her adamancy to be in the sit-in even after suffering from an arm injury during the protests prior to the 6^th of April 2019.

Tutu started an initiative under the name “let’s embrace our differences”, that focuses on addressing peaceful coexistence, in addition to another initiative called “No to creams”, which shed light on the issue of using whitening creams.

References

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