The Khartoum International Book Fair announced the suspension of all activities of the 16th session, which started on Friday evening, October 22, and was scheduled to continue until November 1.
Hatem Elias - director of the exhibition - apologized to the participants in the current session held in Khartoum, and said that the reasons for stopping the activities of this session are due to the present circumstance, the developments of the military coup and the arrest of the Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and Information and members of the transitional government.
Elias pointed out that "military coups are a natural opponent of knowledge and culture, and the exhibition cannot be held in this exceptional circumstance."
The exhibition was launched under the slogan "Return to the Book", and includes more than 160,000 titles with the participation of 200 local and Arab publishing houses, after a break during the past two years due to the Corona pandemic.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Minister of Information Hamza Balloul, with the participation of Minister of Foreign Affairs Maryam Al-Sadiq Al-Mahdi, before the latest political developments in the country.
awareness and culture
The director of the exhibition, Hatem Elias, had said earlier that the current 16th session comes "in difficult economic conditions that Sudan is going through, but despite that, we in the Ministry of Culture and Information decided to face the challenge and to have the exhibition stand."
"We consider the exhibition a case of cultural resistance to Sudanese awareness and culture," he added.
For his part, Abu Dhar al-Sayed, an employee at the Turkish Cultural Center in Khartoum, told Anadolu Agency, "We participated in the Khartoum International Book Fair, and we introduced the citizens to the role played by the Turkish Cultural Center and the Turkish language, and the accompanying activities of archery and water painting courses. (Ebru) which has found a great demand.”
In turn, Sudanese citizen Babiker Al-Tayeb told Anadolu Agency that "the exhibition meets everyone's needs, including religious and cultural books, children's books and various sciences."
"The exhibition looks beautiful this year, and there are new books on it," he added.
He continued, "This year, I am personally interested in books that present the history and present of Sudan and the fluctuations of politics in its various stages."
For his part, Mansour Al-Hashimi (Yemeni) told Anadolu Agency that "the International Book Fair is one of the most beautiful fairs we have seen, whether in Yemen or Sudan."
"We came here to benefit from the exhibition, and this exhibition indicates the intellectual maturity of the State of Sudan," he added.