Egypt prevents Sudanese Journalists from attending an International Climate Change Program
The Egyptian Embassy in Port Sudan refused to grant entry visas to four Sudanese female journalists to participate in the Inaugural meeting of the “Taz Panter” Foundation held in Cairo for the span of three days.
While female journalists from (15) Arab countries obtained visas as part of a two-year international program on Climate Change for Arab female journalists, fully funded by the “Taz Panter” Foundation and the German Foreign Ministry; the Sudanese female journalists faced difficulties due to the intransigence of the Egyptian authorities, which angered the participants and the funding body.
In regards to the incident, the head of the Sudanese Journalists Syndicate (SJS), Abdel Moneim Abu Idris, indicated that major changes were applied to the procedures for granting visas to Sudanese nationals since the outbreak of war in Sudan.
He stated: (Obtaining a visa has become significantly more complicated, regardless of the profession of the applicant or the purpose of their visit).
For her part, Sudanese journalist Hiba Abdel Azim, one of the participants in the program, criticized the intransigence of the Egyptian authorities, and told “Al-Taghyeer”: (Since Egypt had agreed to host a global program with participants from different countries, it should have informed the funding body in advance of the existence of obstacles in relation to certain nationalities).
She explained that Cairo continued its intransigence in an unjustified manner, despite intensive attempts that continued for more than a month and a half by the funding body to facilitate the procedures.
It is worth noting that the Climate Change program, which aims to enhance the capabilities of Arab female journalists in covering environmental issues, will proceed with its activities in other countries.
