In music and dance, Sudanese performers transport refugee audiences back home

CAIRO (AP) — As the performers took the stage and the traditional drum beat gained momentum, Sudanese refugees sitting in the audience were moved to tears. Hadia Moussa said the melody reminded her of the country's Nuba Mountains, her family's ancestral home.

"Performances like this help people mentally affected by the war. It reminds us of the Sudanese folklore and our culture," she said.

Sudan has been engulfed by violence since April 2023, when war between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces broke out across the country. The conflict has turned the capital, Khartoum, into an urban battlefield and displaced 4.6 million people, according to the U.N. migration agency, including more than 419,000 people who fled to Egypt.

A band with 12 Sudanese members now lives with thousands of refugees in Egypt. The troupe, called “Camirata," includes researchers, singers and poets who are determined to preserve the knowledge of traditional Sudanese folk music and dance to keep it from being lost in the ruinous war.

Founded in 1997, the band rose to popularity in Khartoum before it began traveling to different states, enlisting diverse musicians, dancers and styles. They sing in 25 different Sudanese languages. Founder Dafallah el-Hag said the band's members started relocating to Egypt in recently, as Sudan struggled through a difficult economic and political transition after a 2019 popular uprising unseated longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir. Others followed after the violence began. El-Hag arrived late last year.

The band uses a variety of local musical instruments on stage. El-Hag says audiences are often surprised to see instruments such as the tanbour, a stringed instrument, being played with the nuggara drums, combined with tunes of the banimbo, a wooden xylophone.

“This combination of musical instruments helped promote some sort of forgiveness and togetherness among the Sudanese people,” el-Hag said, adding that he is eager to revive a museum in Khartoum that housed historic instruments and was reportedly looted and damaged.

Fatma Farid, 21, a singer and dancer from Kordofan, moved to Egypt in 2021. Her aunt was killed in 2023 when an explosive fell on their house in al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan.

“The way I see art has changed a lot since the war began," she said. "You think of what you present as an artist. You can deliver a message,” she said.

Kawthar Osman, a native of Madani city who has been singing with the band since 1997, feels nostalgic when she sings about the Nile River, which forms in Sudan from two upper branches, the Blue and White Nile.

“It reminds me of what makes Sudan the way it is,” she said, adding that the war only “pushed the band to sing more for peace.”

Over 2 million Sudanese fled the country, mostly to neighboring Egypt and Chad, where the Global Hunger Index has reported a “serious” level of hunger in Chad. Over half a million forcibly displaced Sudanese have sought refuge in Chad, mostly women and children.

Living conditions for those who stayed in Sudan have worsened as the war spread beyond Khartoum. Many made hard decisions early in the war either to flee across frontlines or risk being caught in the middle of fighting. In Darfur, the war turned particularly brutal and created famine conditions, with militias attacking entire villages and burning them to the ground.

Armed robberies, lootings and the seizure of homes for bases were some of the challenges faced by Sudanese who stayed in the country's urban areas. Others struggled to secure food and water, find sources for electricity and obtain medical treatment since hospitals have been raided by fighters or hit by airstrikes. Communications networks are often barely functional.

The performers say they struggle to speak with family and friends still in the country, much less think about returning.

“We don’t know if we’ll return to Sudan again or will see Sudan again or walk in the same streets,” Farid said.

Video Journalist Mohamed Salah contributed to this report from Cairo.

Sudanese Camirata troupe founder Dafallah el-Hag, center, greets Sudanese and foreign audience at the end of a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sarah Naqd Allah, from Sudan's main opposition Umma Party, cries as she watches Camirata troupe traditional show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese refugees sitting in the audience cry as they watch Camirata troupe traditional show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe founder Dafallah el-Hag performs as Sudanese and foreign audience react during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe founder Dafallah el-Hag holds his traditional handmade "Agamo", during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancer Fatma Farid, 21, whose aunt was killed in 2023 when an explosive fell on their house in al-Obeid, the capital of North Kordofan, performs at the Italian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

In this image taken with a slow shutter speed, Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers perform a "Al Hamal Rakd" dance from West Sudan, during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

In this image taken with a slow shutter speed, Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers perform a "Al Hamal Rakd" dance from West Sudan, during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers perform a dance from South Sudan, during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancer Hoda Othman, performs a dance from Central Sudan, "Al-Arda", as Sudanese and foreign audience react during a show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe perform at the Italian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe members chat with their families on mobile phones before their show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancer Hoda Othman puts makeup on before their show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers Hoda Othman, right, and Amal Soliman put makeup on before their show at the Russian culture center in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancer Hoda Othman, who lost some of her relatives during the conflict in Sudan, puts on her dress during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Sudanese Camirata troupe dancers, who lost some of their relatives during the conflict in Sudan, Hoda Othman, right, and Kamal perform Al Saysaed dance from East Sudan during a rehearsal, in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Sept.10, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

WASHINGTON (AP) — When acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate President Donald Trump's allies for alleged political prosecution, he may have pleased his boss.

But the eyebrow-raising move — the latest in his push to prove his loyalty to Trump — has agitated the same Republican lawmakers he would need to secure the permanent job.

Blanche insists he’s not auditioning for the job of attorney general. But a succession of splashy steps the Justice Department has taken under his watch since he took the position on an acting basis last month, including an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, has left no doubt about the impression he’s hoping to make on the president who appointed him.

The fund in particular has put Blanche at the center of a Republican firestorm at a time when he aims to establish himself as the perfect person for the job for the remainder of Trump’s term. And it sharpened concerns from Democrats and other Blanche critics that he has not shed his mantle as the president’s personal attorney.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader, said in a statement.

A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche came to public prominence for his lead role on Trump's defense team, including during the Republican's hush money trial in New York. That perch afforded him, he has said, a firsthand look at what he contends was the weaponization of the criminal justice system against Trump.

He was brought into the Justice Department as deputy attorney general, the No. 2 job, then was elevated last month after Trump ousted Pam Bondi.

Now he finds himself the latest Trump-appointed attorney general to simultaneously confront expectations from subordinates to uphold institutional norms and demands from the president to do his bidding.

Trump's first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was forced out after the 2018 midterms after infuriating the president over his recusal from an investigation into ties between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign. Another, William Barr, resigned after their relationship fizzled over Barr's refusal to back Trump's baseless claims of massive election fraud. Bondi was removed after struggling to bring successful prosecutions against Trump's political opponents.

Two weeks after becoming acting attorney general, Blanche announced the appointment of Joseph diGenova, an 81-year-old former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan administration, to a special position inside the department. He'll oversee a Florida-based investigation into whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired over the last decade to undermine Trump.

“At some point, at the right time, that will be made public and the American people will see exactly what happened to this administration and President Trump over the past decade," Blanche told Fox News.

Prior government reviews of the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation, a centerpiece of the current conspiracy investigation, have failed to produce criminal charges against senior officials or evidence of criminal conduct by them. It's not clear what, if any, new information the continuing investigation has developed.

The Justice Department also last month obtained an indictment charging Comey, a Trump foe whose prosecution the president has long called for, with threatening Trump through a social media photo of seashells in the numerical arrangement of “86 47" — a case legal experts say will be challenging for prosecutors. Comey has said he wouldn't be surprised if the Justice Department pursues additional indictments.

In other moves, Blanche announced an indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that has been the target of conservative outrage, with misleading donors about its activities, and has publicly defended a Justice Department crackdown on leaks to the news media, including subpoenas to reporters.

Arguably the most audacious demonstration of loyalty to Trump came this week when the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people who feel they've been unjustly investigated and prosecuted, coupled with a guarantee of immunity from tax audits for Trump and his eldest sons.

As Republican concerns grew, Blanche held a tense meeting with GOP lawmakers Thursday. Shortly afterward, Senate Republicans abruptly left Washington without voting on a roughly $70 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement agencies.

Blanche, who defended the fund at a congressional hearing this week, has said anyone who believes they've been persecuted can apply for compensation regardless of political affiliation. But the fund has been widely understood as a boon to Trump allies investigated during the Biden administration.

“It’s pretty clear that he’s not the attorney general for the United States as much as he's the attorney general for President Trump,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and senior Justice Department official in the 1980s. He said Blanche would get an A+ if report cards were issued for fealty to Trump.

David Laufman, a former chief of staff to the deputy attorney general in President George W. Bush's administration, said that rather than protecting the Justice Department's independence, Blanche has been a “willing and ardent accomplice for carrying out any partisan or corrupt scheme the White House may devise.”

Blanche’s supporters dismiss the suggestion he is trying to curry favor with Trump to secure the permanent job.

“What he is doing is he is seeking justice based on facts and the law,” said Jay Town, who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama during the first Trump administration. “And I don’t think that will ever change about him, whether he is the attorney general going forward or doesn’t spend another day in the administration. He is an honorable man and anybody that knows him knows that to be true.”

Blanche also says he is not angling to keep his job or feeling pressure to placate Trump.

He has told reporters he would be honored to be nominated but, "if he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’ I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that.”

In recent days, he's functioned as the fund's public face and most visible defender, a role consistent with his comfort in the spotlight. He sometimes holds multiple press conferences a week and grants interviews to a variety of news outlets, a contrast to Bondi, who largely stuck to Fox News appearances.

His defenders say his experience as a federal prosecutor has made him a more sophisticated communicator for the department than Bondi, but his statements have at times invited backlash, including his refusal to rule out that violent Jan. 6 rioters could be eligible for payouts.

Though Blanche will appoint the five commissioners tasked with processing claims, his precise role in the fund’s implementation is unclear. He told CNN it was developed through negotiations with Trump’s private lawyers, not him.

For some Democrats, that's a difference without a distinction.

“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president's personal attorney," Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, told Blanche during a combative exchange in a Senate hearing, "and that's the whole problem."

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican senators who are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump's ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican senators who are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump's ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)