In our series of Letters from African journalists, Zeinab Mohammed Salih writes about the horrific racial abuse black people experience in Sudan.
Warning: This article contains offensive language
As anti-racism protests swept through various parts of the world following African-American George Floyd's death in police custody in the US, Sudan seemed to be in a completely different world.
There was little take-up in Sudan of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Instead many Sudanese social media users hurled racial abuse at a famous black Sudanese footballer, Issam Abdulraheem, and a light-skinned Arab make-up artist, Reem Khougli, following their marriage.
"Seriously girl, this is haram [Arabic for forbidden]... a queen marries her slave," one man commented on Facebook after seeing a photo of the couple.
Facebook Live from honeymoon
There were dozens of similar comments - not surprising in a country where many Sudanese who see themselves as Arabs, rather than Africans, routinely use the word "slave", and other derogatory words, to describe black people.
Sudan has always been dominated by a light-skinned, Arabic-speaking elite, while black Africans in the south and west of the country have faced discrimination and marginalisation.
It is common for newspapers to publish racial slurs, including the word "slave".
Sudan was a major slave-trading area in the 19th Century
A few weeks ago, an Islamist columnist at Al-Intibaha, a daily newspaper supportive of ex-President Omar al-Bashir, who does not approve of women playing football, referred to the female football coach of the Gunners, a well-known youth team for girls, as a slave.
And almost all media outlets describe petty criminals in the capital, Khartoum, as "negros" as they are perceived to be poor and not ethnically Arab.
When I asked Abdulraheem for his reaction to the racial abuse hurled at him and his wife, he said: "I couldn't post more pictures on my social media pages for fear of receiving more [abuse]."
Instead, the 29-year-old and his 24-year-old wife did a Facebook live during their honeymoon, saying they were in love and their race was irrelevant.
Few black faces
In another recent instance, the head of a women's rights group, No To Women Oppression, commented on a photo showing a young black man with his white European wife by saying that the woman, in choosing her husband, may have been looking for the creature missing on the evolutionary ladder between humans and monkeys.
Following an outcry, Ihsan Fagiri announced her resignation, but No To Women Oppression refused to accept it, saying she did not mean it.
There have been some small anti-racism protests in Sudan
Racism is insidious in Sudan, historically and since independence when most senior positions have been filled by people from the north - the Arab and Nubian ethnic groups.
Almost all senior military officers are from these communities, which has also allowed them to use their influence to dominate the business sector.
Map
Today if you go into any government department or bank in Khartoum, you will rarely see a black person in an important role.
There are no reliable statistics on the ethnic breakdown of Sudan's population, let alone their relative wealth, but a Darfuri-based rebel group fighting for the rights of black people estimates that 60% of Khartoum residents are black.
Slave traders 'glorified'
The racism goes back to the founding of Khartoum in 1821 as a marketplace for slaves.
By the second half of the century about two-thirds of the city's population was enslaved.
Sudan became one of the most active slave-raiding zones in Africa, with slaves transported from the south to the north, and to Egypt, the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions.
Al-Zubair Pasha Rahma was a powerful slave trader
Slave traders are still glorified - a street in the heart of the capital is named after al-Zubair Pasha Rahma, whose 19th Century trading empire stretched to parts of what is now the Central African Republic and Chad.
Historians say he mainly captured women from the modern-day Sudanese areas of Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains, as well as South Sudan and Ethiopia's Oromia region. He was also known for his slave army, made up of captives from South Sudan, which fought for the Ottomans.
Warning: This article contains offensive language
As anti-racism protests swept through various parts of the world following African-American George Floyd's death in police custody in the US, Sudan seemed to be in a completely different world.
There was little take-up in Sudan of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Instead many Sudanese social media users hurled racial abuse at a famous black Sudanese footballer, Issam Abdulraheem, and a light-skinned Arab make-up artist, Reem Khougli, following their marriage.
"Seriously girl, this is haram [Arabic for forbidden]... a queen marries her slave," one man commented on Facebook after seeing a photo of the couple.
Facebook Live from honeymoon
There were dozens of similar comments - not surprising in a country where many Sudanese who see themselves as Arabs, rather than Africans, routinely use the word "slave", and other derogatory words, to describe black people.
Sudan has always been dominated by a light-skinned, Arabic-speaking elite, while black Africans in the south and west of the country have faced discrimination and marginalisation.
It is common for newspapers to publish racial slurs, including the word "slave".
Sudan was a major slave-trading area in the 19th Century
A few weeks ago, an Islamist columnist at Al-Intibaha, a daily newspaper supportive of ex-President Omar al-Bashir, who does not approve of women playing football, referred to the female football coach of the Gunners, a well-known youth team for girls, as a slave.
And almost all media outlets describe petty criminals in the capital, Khartoum, as "negros" as they are perceived to be poor and not ethnically Arab.
When I asked Abdulraheem for his reaction to the racial abuse hurled at him and his wife, he said: "I couldn't post more pictures on my social media pages for fear of receiving more [abuse]."
Instead, the 29-year-old and his 24-year-old wife did a Facebook live during their honeymoon, saying they were in love and their race was irrelevant.
Few black faces
In another recent instance, the head of a women's rights group, No To Women Oppression, commented on a photo showing a young black man with his white European wife by saying that the woman, in choosing her husband, may have been looking for the creature missing on the evolutionary ladder between humans and monkeys.
Following an outcry, Ihsan Fagiri announced her resignation, but No To Women Oppression refused to accept it, saying she did not mean it.
There have been some small anti-racism protests in Sudan
Racism is insidious in Sudan, historically and since independence when most senior positions have been filled by people from the north - the Arab and Nubian ethnic groups.
Almost all senior military officers are from these communities, which has also allowed them to use their influence to dominate the business sector.
Map
Today if you go into any government department or bank in Khartoum, you will rarely see a black person in an important role.
There are no reliable statistics on the ethnic breakdown of Sudan's population, let alone their relative wealth, but a Darfuri-based rebel group fighting for the rights of black people estimates that 60% of Khartoum residents are black.
Slave traders 'glorified'
The racism goes back to the founding of Khartoum in 1821 as a marketplace for slaves.
By the second half of the century about two-thirds of the city's population was enslaved.
Sudan became one of the most active slave-raiding zones in Africa, with slaves transported from the south to the north, and to Egypt, the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions.
Al-Zubair Pasha Rahma was a powerful slave trader
Slave traders are still glorified - a street in the heart of the capital is named after al-Zubair Pasha Rahma, whose 19th Century trading empire stretched to parts of what is now the Central African Republic and Chad.
Historians say he mainly captured women from the modern-day Sudanese areas of Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains, as well as South Sudan and Ethiopia's Oromia region. He was also known for his slave army, made up of captives from South Sudan, which fought for the Ottomans.