Raja Nicola Eissa Abdel-Masih | |
|---|---|
رجاء نيقولا عيسى عبد المسيح | |
| Member of theTransitional Sovereignty Council | |
| Assumed office 11 November 2021 | |
| In office 21 August 2019 – 25 October 2021 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Omdurman |
| Occupation | judge[1] |
Raja Nicola Eissa Abdel-Masih[2] (Arabic:رجاء نيقولا عيسى عبد المسيح) is a civilian member of theTransitional Sovereignty Council,Sudan's collective transitional head of state. She was chosen for this position[3] as one of six civilians to hold seats in the original 11-member council. She was the only one of them whose name was agreed upon through a consensus between theForces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) and theTransitional Military Council (TMC), as was foreseen under the terms of the Draft Constitutional Declaration of August 2019.[4][5] She is the only civilian member of the TSC to have been reinstated by ChairmanAbdel Fattah al-Burhan after he seized power in the2021 military coup d'état.[6]
As such she is, along with fellow council memberAisha Musa el-Said, one of the first two women in modern Sudanese history to hold the role equivalent to a federal minister and is also the firstChristian (as a member of theCoptic minority) to hold such a high political office in the country.[1] As a judge, she is responsible in particular for the legal system in Sudan.[7]
Nicola was born inOmdurman and graduated in 1980 with aBachelor of Laws fromCairo University.[8]
Being alawyer by education, Nicola also served as ajudge.[1] She worked in the Sudanese Ministry of Justice from 1982 until her 2019 appointment to the Sovereignty Council.[9][8]
In September 2012, Nicola said that religious rights ofChristians in Sudan asserted under the2005 Interim National Constitution were not fully implemented, with some employers not giving Christians their legal two hours' right to prayer and schools not allowing Christian children to be absent on Sunday for attendance at religious services.[10]: 88, 89
Nicolas also stated in September 2012 that theSpecial Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Non-Muslims in Khartoum that had been created in 2007 had been active in advocating to law enforcement agencies on the behalf of non-Muslims arrested for allegedly violating Shari'a law, and in publishing regular reports and recommendations to the government in relation to non-Muslims' rights. She stated that the Commission had been closed down in 2011, against the wishes of the Christian community, after thesecession of South Sudan.[9]
In a meeting with the Sudanese Solidarity Organization Against Racial Discrimination (SSOARD) in June, 2021, she stressed the need for the implementation of "all legislations and laws againstracial discrimination".[11]
The August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration that defines the state bodies and procedures for the2019 Sudanese transition to democracy creates aSovereignty Council as the collective head of state of Sudan.[4][5] The signing of the July Political Agreement and the Draft Constitutional Declaration by theForces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) and theTransitional Military Council (TMC) followedhalf a year of sustained civil disobedience and the 3 JuneKhartoum massacre. The FFC and other civilian groups had insisted on a fully civilian government. The Draft Constitutional Declaration compromised by creating a Sovereignty Council with five civilians chosen by the FFC, five military chosen by the TMC, and a sixth civilian to give the Sovereignty Council a formal majority of civilians. The sixth civilian had to be mutually agreed on by the FFC and the TMC.[5]
In late August, Raja Nicola was nominated by the FFC and the TMC as their mutually agreed-on sixth civilian member of the Sovereignty Council.[12] The choice of Nicola, as a member of theSudanese Coptic community, was seen as a concrete measure for social diversity, in particular for Sudanese Christians.[3]
Shortly after being sworn in as a member of the Sovereignty Council, she described her vision of the task of the council, stating,
We only asked the Sudanese people to be patient as we may all know that the destruction that happened during the past 30 years is huge and may not be addressed in only three years. But we will double our efforts and work together in the council to meet all the demands of the revolution.
— Raja Nicola, interview withMiddle East Eye[1]