Freed Wheeling Khartoum Poem by Yousif Ibrahim Abubaker Abdalla

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM: I'm a big fan of poetry, literature, and different forms of art. Composing poems is the only outlet for me to express my feelings and cope with life's ups and downs. I devote my spare time to writing, performing, and enjoying poetry at different events and slams. The poem was written on Wednesday,26th of March 2025. This poem captures Khartoum is located at the confluence of the White Nile flowing north from Lake Victoria and the Blue Nile, flowing west from Lake Tana in Ethiopia Divided by these two parts of the Nile, the Khartoum metropolitan area is a tripartite metropolis consisting of Khartoum proper and linked by bridges to Khartoum North and Omdurman to the west. The place where the two Niles meet is known as al-Mogran. Khartoum was founded in 1821 by Muhammad Ali Pasha, north of the ancient city of Soba. In 1882, the British Empire took control of the Egyptian government, leaving the administration of Sudan in the hands of the Egyptians. At the outbreak of the Mahdist War, the British attempted to evacuate Anglo-Egyptian garrisons from Sudan but the Siege of Khartoum in 1884 resulted in the capture of the city by Mahdist forces and a massacre of the defending Anglo-Egyptian garrison. In 1898, it was reoccupied by British forces and was the seat of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan's government until 1956. In 1956, the city was designated as the capital of an independent Sudan. Three hostages were killed during the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum in 1973. In 2008, the Justice and Equality Movement engaged in combat in the city with the Sudanese Armed Forces as part of the War in Darfur. The Khartoum massacre occurred in 2019 during the Sudanese Revolution. Between 2023 and 2025, the city saw extensive combat during the civil war involving the armed forces and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) , affecting Khartoum International Airport and other critical sites. Khartoum is an economic and trade centre in North Africa, with rail lines from Port Sudan and El-Obeid. It is served by Khartoum International Airport with the New Khartoum International Airport under construction. Several national and cultural institutions are in Khartoum and its metropolitan area, including the National Museum of Sudan, the Khalifa House Museum, the University of Khartoum, and the Sudan University of Science and Technology.