05-10-23 S3E2 Inside the Sudan crisis & Dearborn Mayor Hammoud

The Ray Hanania Radio Show

Season 3 Episode 2 May 10, 2023

Welcome to The Ray Hanania Radio Show here on the US Arab Radio Network, sponsored by Arab News, the leading English-language newspaer of the Middle East ... I am Ray Hanania ...

It's Wednesday, May 10, 2023 and we're broadcasting live in Detroit on WNZK AM 690 and Washington DC on WDMV AM 700, on ArabRadio.US and also streaming on Facebook.com/ArabNews. Get the podcast at ArabNews.com/RayRadioShow.

We have a great show today ...

A power struggle between Sudan's rival military leaders shattered a tenuous peace that existed in Sudan causing a conflict that has spread throughout the country.

Fighting between the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces erupted in Sudan's capital Khartoum in mid-April and have now engulfed large parts of Sudan. Thousands of civilians have been killed and tens of thousands more are fleeing the widening conflict.

Saudi Arabia and the United States are coordinating face-to-face negotiations in Jeddah between the two sides in the hopes of ending this outbreak of violence that has torn Sudan apart.

We will speak with two guests, first, an American woman who heads an NGO in Khartoum who helps the Sudanese people ... we are withholding her identity at her request for safety concerns ... we'll just call her "Frances" ... she will tell us about her harrowing story of fleeing the violence in Sudan ... she is now back safe in the US and will be returning to Sudan to resume her humanitarian work ...

We will also speak with Dr. Hafeez AbdelHafeez, a Sudanese American physician who arrived in Khartoum only five hours before the violence spread across the country ... he is a board member of the Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA) ... which is raising funds to help people in Sudan who are in need...

In our final segment, we will shift gears and speak with Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, the first Arab-American and Muslim mayor as well as being the second youngest mayor in the city's history. 

Before being elected mayor in November 2021, Mayor Hammoud served three terms in the Michigan State General Assembly from Jan 2017 through his election as Dearborn Mayor.. He was only 26 years old when he ran for the state house and won. Mayor Hammoud will update us on some of his administration's "firsts" including designating Ramadan's EIDs as paid holidays for Dearborn city employees ... the first of any city in the country to do that we're told.

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