The Tank

Description

Khartoum, according to one theory, takes its name from the Beja word hartooma, meaning ‘meeting place’. Geographically, culturally and historically, the Sudanese capital is certainly that: a meeting place of the Blue and White Niles, a confluence of Arabic and African histories, and a destination point for countless refugees displaced by Sudan’s long, troubled history of forced migration.This story by Ahmed al-Malik is taken from The Book of Khartoum (Comma Press, 2016) and translated into English by Adam Talib.