Dilemma as Sudanese varsity students join ISIS

But that was probably just half the story. Even more startling was the revelation that no less than the daughter of Mr Ali Alsadig, the spokesman of the Foreign ministry, was among the latest group of students to join ISIS.

Pricked by the unsettling turn of events, the Sudanese authorities confiscated the newspaper editions with the reports.

The phenomenon of youths joining the ISIS and other radical Islamist groups has become a regional crisis. Other countries affected include Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Mali and Tanzania. However, the Sudan case sticks out like a sore thumb as the government is accused of blinking amid the continuing recruitment of the university students.

Also curious is that all the students known to have joined the ISIS were studying at the private University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST), which is owned by the Sudan State Health minister, Prof Mamoun Hemeida.

Could the government be having a hand in the student’s decision? Sudan, like Iran and North Korea, has persistently been accused by the West of sponsoring international terrorism. Indeed Sudan has since 1993 been on the US’s list of the rogue states supportive of the global terror networks.

President Omar al-Bashir’s government denied the media reports last March, which claimed that 10 Sudanese medical students had left the country with the intention of joining ISIS in Syria through Turkey.

Prof Hemeda refused to comment on the allegations levelled against his institution. The government, however, admitted this month that another group of 12 medical students had joined the jihadists.

Khartoum further announced that it could facilitate the return of three of the student who travelled to Turkey.
According to local media reports, seven of the students hold British passports, two hold Canadian passports while one holds an American passport. Only two are holders of the Sudanese passport.

Sudanese Foreign minister Ibrahim Gandour admitted that 12 medical students had left the country to join the ISIS. Mr Gandour said Khartoum was contacting Sudanese embassies in Turkey and Syria with a view to repatriating the students.
Some reports, however, indicated that the Turkish authorities had prevented five Sudanese medical doctors from crossing the border into Syria.

According to Sudanese political analyst Salah Aldoma, the big question now was not how the government could repatriate the students, but if more students could leave the country for similar reasons. Prof Aldoma stated that the preoccupation should be with whoever was behind the ISIS recruitment in Sudan and whether the political atmosphere in the country could be encouraging the phenomenon.

Prof Aldoma said: “Given the widespread displacement because of wars, the economic deterioration and the high rates of unemployment, the Sudanese community is favourable for such kinds of ideological currents,’’ he explained.

He, however, added that Sudan still had the ability to combat the phenomenon by adopting a reform policy and reviewing its higher education.

“They can reduce the violence among the university students, raise the awareness,’’ he added.
Sudan’s Higher Education minister Sumaya Abu-Kushawa in June accused unnamed groups of actively recruiting students to join ISIS, but refused to divulge more details.

Security expert Hassan Byomy said Sudanese students who held Western passports, were the main target for the ISIS recruitment as they enjoyed more freedom of movement. He said they could easily travel to Syria and Iraq, through Turkey.

“The Western-Sudanese students are ideal target for these groups as they are more reachable through the social media, their ideas about Islam are naïve,’’ explained Mr Byomy.
He, however, pointed out that Sudan could combat the smuggling of the students as Khartoum had good relations with Turkey, which served as the main route to Syria.

The government announced that investigations were ongoing to unravel how a female student holding a diplomatic passport was able to leave the country without permission from the Foreign ministry.

Sudanese media disclosed that the Khartoum authorities had contacted their Turkish counterparts to take appropriate measures to secure the return of the students.

Relatives of one of the fugitive students accused the government of failing to stop the flurry of the ISIS recruitment in the Sudanese universities.