Najwa Musa Konda

Najwa Musa Konda (alternative spellings: Nagwa, Mousa, Kinda, Kunda) (born 1976) is a Sudanese women's rights activist and civil society leader for the Two Areas (South Kordofan and Blue Nile).

Life

Najwa Musa Konda was born in 1976 in the village of Kambara, near the small town of Kauda. Her father, Musa Konda Kuka, had taken literacy classes late in life, and ensured all his nine children attended school. Despite experiencing some prejudice against both her dark skin and her Christianity, Najwa Musa Konda won a scholarship to Ahfad University for Women in Omdurman. After graduation she studied for a Master's degree at Swansea University in Wales.[1]

Najwa Musa's education enabled her to get jobs in the humanitarian sector. In 2005, she was a representative of the Nuba women's association.[2] In 2006, as a UNICEF representative, she was helping to provide schooling at the camp for displaced people near Kauda in South Kordofan.[3]

She started working for the Nuba Relief, Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NRRDO), and eventually became executive director.[1] As head of NRRDO, Najwa Musa presciently warned in May 2011 that the Nuba mountains might be brought into the conflict and become "a new Darfur.[4][5] In May 2012, she was among 150 signatories of a joint letter by civil society leaders imploring US and China to help solve Sudan/South Sudan conflict.[6] In February 2014, the SPLM-N named her as one of seven national experts to join their delegation to peace talks with the government.[7] In September 2014 she warned of the humanitarian situation in South Kordofan.[8]

In 2016, Malik Agar appointed her to a committee charged with implementing a UN action plan to end SPLM-N's recruitment of child soldiers.[9] Speaking on International Women's Day in March 2017, Musa highlighted the high rate of maternal mortality, domestic violence against women, child marriage and female genital mutilation in the Two Areas.[10]

Works

References
  1. James Copnall (2014). A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan's Bitter and Incomplete Divorce. Hurst. pp. 20–22. ISBN 978-1-84904-493-6.
  2. Kari Karamé and Lillian Prestegard, Sudanese Women and the Peace Process, 2005.
  3. Darfuris find refuge with ex-rebels, Sudan Tribune, 1 October 2006.
  4. Sudan: Could Nuba mountains be next conflict?, BBC News, 11 May 2011.
  5. James Copnall, Are Christians in Sudan facing persecution?, BBC News, 22 June 2015.
  6. 150 African and Arab civil society organisations implore US and China to help solve conflicts in Sudan and South Sudan, International Refugee RIghts Initiative, 1 May 2012.
  7. SPLM-N names external experts for talks with Khartoum, Sudan Tribune, 7 February 2014.
  8. 'Nuba in South Kordofan on the brink of starvation', Radio Dabanga, 21 September 2014.
  9. Malik Agar forms committee to end use of children in conflict, Radio Tamazuj, 14 December 2016.
  10. Women bear the brunt of suffering in Sudan, Radio Dabanga, 8 March 2017.
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