By Elena Ray
Mahassein Obaid Arbab’s life journey from young activist in Sudan to human rights advocate in the U.S. is a testament to unwavering bravery, relentless determination, and a deep commitment to justice. Born in Northern Sudan in 1946, Arbab has spent over six decades advocating for the basic civil rights of the Sudanese people, particularly those living in South Sudan and the western regions of The Republic of the Sudan, which have been wracked by violence and human rights violations for over a century.
Arbab’s advocacy has family roots. She developed an early passion for human rights work and an awareness of the injustices that permeated her country from her father, a staunch advocate for Sudanese independence from British rule. “He fought English colonialism before I was born,” she said with pride.
As a teenager, she participated in the October Revolution of 1964, a student-led movement that sought to overthrow Gen. Ibrahim Abboud’s military regime and establish a democratic constitutional government. The then-17-year-old Arbab was wounded and arrested during the protests, but her resolve to advocate for autonomy and civil liberties in Sudan was undimmed. She stood against Sudan’s brutal military dictatorship led by Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years, and she has been a vocal proponent of civilian governance.
Arbab is Muslim, and from Northern Sudan, however she has always been adamant in her advocacy for the predominantly non-Muslim western Sudan and South Sudan. According to Arbab, the land’s natural resources – primarily petroleum and gold – made South Sudan and western regions of The Republic of Sudan ripe for exploitation from both domestic and international powers. South Sudan voted for independence and became an autonomous nation in 2011, six years after the end of the Second Sudanese Civil War, however, the Delfour and Nuba Mountain regions in western Sudan are still suffering from military violence and frequent human rights abuses.
No matter what country I am in, no matter where I go, I make a political group and speak out for human rights.
After graduating from high school, she received a scholarship from the International Women’s Committee to study at a university in Bulgaria. Arbab was already in the bad graces of the government, and Sudan’s Minister of the Interior tried to prevent her from leaving the country. She did make it to Bulgaria – although with nothing but the clothes on her back, a little food, and a small knife. She was a young woman traveling alone, and going abroad for the first time. But, Arbab said, “My determination was stronger than my fear.” Her parents fully supported their daughter’s intellectual aspirations and revolutionary ambitions. Arbab’s father often told her, “You are very precious to me, and I will make something special of you.”
Arbab was the first African to study in Bulgaria, and her arrival was celebrated by a large crowd of fellow students cheering and applauding. She studied animal husbandry and met her future husband, an architecture student who shared her values and political views. Together, they founded a resistance group against the Sudanese dictatorship and advocated for an end to the militaristic rule of the Muslim Brotherhood. She and her husband had a child while she was still in university, but her commitment to human rights never wavered. “No matter what country I am in, no matter where I go, I make a political group and speak out for human rights,” Arbab declared.
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After earning her degree, Arbab worked for many years in Libya, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai. Before she and her husband divorced, they had five children: Tariq, Hashim, Adil, Mahammud, and Maha. Now Arbab is a proud grandmother of 14 grandchildren. Wherever she has lived, she supported the fight for human rights in Sudan by helping establish underground resistance movements and secret newspapers to spread information about the government’s violation of human rights. When her mother died, Arbab returned home for the funeral, even though being in Sudan exposed her to danger.
While in Sudan, Arbab spoke at a human rights congress at the University of Khartoum, where she showed many pictures and videos of the humanitarian crisis and horrific violence in western Sudan during her presentation. Her aim was to expose and publicly condemn the crimes of Sudan’s authoritarian government.
The day after her lecture at the human rights congress, Arbab was attacked while going to a mosque for Ramadan. Two men mugged and assaulted her, breaking her shoulder. People on the street saw what happened, and took her to the hospital where she filed a police report. Her sons were told that the government was intent on killing her, and they urged their mother to go to the American embassy for her safety. Recognizing the severity of the threats, the embassy granted Arbab asylum status, allowing her to immigrate to the United States where she was legally recognized as a refugee and granted a green card. “I can’t go back to Sudan because I’m afraid something will happen to me. … Every time I go back to Sudan, I find something bad waiting for me from the government,” Arbab said.
After immigrating to the U.S. in 2014, Arbab settled in Lewiston, where she embraced her new life while continuing her advocacy for human rights. For the past decade, she has been vocal in the Lewiston and Auburn communities. She received an Immigrant Resource Center of Maine’s “Women of the Year Award” in 2018, and was featured in Lewiston’s 2023 “Let Diversity Shine!” event hosted by Lewiston Youth Advisory Council. Arbab became an American citizen in 2019 and remains an active member of various human rights organizations. Additionally, she was recognized and awarded for her activism by Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights in 2018.
Arbab was a strong supporter of the 2019 December revolution, another student-led resistance movement in Sudan that resulted in the resignation of President Oman al-Bashir. She sees the December revolution as a continuation of the October Revolution of 1964, in which she participated during her youth. Along with other Sudanese people living abroad, Arbab assisted the students in Sudan for many months.“From here, we helped them by sending money. Nobody went home. We sent money and food. [The protestors] were eating and sleeping [in front of the office of the Minister of Defence],” she said.
When al-Bashir’s regime fell in 2019, many Sudanese people hoped for the establishment of a constitutional government. Until elections took place, the country was ruled by a transitional government made up of military and civilian leaders. During this time, the government initiated reforms and gradually created opportunities for the exercise of civil liberties. However, the peaceful transition period was disrupted in late 2021, when the military leadership staged a coup and overthrew the transitional government.
The subsequent power struggle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted into a large-scale conflict in the spring of 2023. According to the International Rescue Committee’s Emergency Watchlist, over 8 million people have been forced to flee their homes and nearly 25 million people are in need of humanitarian aid because of the ensuing violence. “No food, no treatment, there is no hope,” Arbab lamented. “Most Sudanese will never find a job. The country is full of violence and corruption.”
At the moment, Arbab is focused on assisting Sudanese refugees living in Egypt who desperately need aid. She is attempting to open a school in Cairo for Sudanese children who have lacked access to an education since fleeing Sudan. She plans to travel to Egypt in September to oversee the opening of the school, but needs donations to achieve this goal.
In addition to her activism, Arbab is a multimedia artist who creates foliage and flower collages and other three-dimensional displays using natural materials. She was selected by LA Arts as one of 100 Maine artists whose work was displayed at a recent showcase in Brunswick. Proceeds from sales of her art support Sudanese refugees in Egypt, including her son and granddaughter, who were forced to flee and now reside in Cairo.
No one asks what I’m doing or tries to kill me for what I say.
— Mahassein Obaid Arba speaking of her freedom in America
Arbab said she appreciates the freedom she has in America: “No one asks what I’m doing or tries to kill me for what I say.”
For the past 10 years, Arbab has been a volunteer at the Nutrition Center in Lewiston, where she cooks meals for people living with food insecurity. She loves to cook, and someday plans to publish a book of recipes. Arbab grows much of her own food, and maintains thriving gardens in Lewiston and Auburn.
One of Arbab’s current goals is to create an African Women’s Union, where women from Africa living in Maine can collectively advocate for their rights and freedoms, both in Maine and their home countries. She emphasized that many women come to the U.S. because they faced dangerous and oppressive circumstances in their countries of origin. By coming together, women can uplift one another and work together to make positive social change, Arbab said.
Despite the many challenges and dangers she has faced, Arbab’s spirit remains unbroken, and she is a model for younger women. At the age of 78, she continues to use her voice to raise awareness about the crisis in Sudan, advocating for those who cannot speak for themselves.
For the first half of the 20th century, Sudan was a colony of Egypt and the United Kingdom. Sudan gained independence from Britain in 1956, but quickly fell into civil war. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the First Sudanese Civil War (1955-1972), which was an impetus for the October revolution of 1964, erupted just before independence and lasted until the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972, which granted significant autonomy to the southern region. However, the fragile peace did not last, and the Second Sudanese Civil War broke out in 1983, continuing until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. This near-constant state of conflict disrupted Sudan’s social and economic development, and a series of coups resulted in the establishment of authoritarian regimes that hindered political freedoms and suppressed opposition.
The Darfur Conflict in western Sudan began in February 2003, when rebel groups accused the government of oppressing Darfur’s non-Arab population and launched an uprising against Omar al-Bashir’s regime. In response, the government initiated a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the non-Arabs in Darfur, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Over two decades later, this campaign of violence against Sudan’s western region has not ceased, and accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing continue.
