ISAM ELBOUSHI, a highly respected Sudanese higher education leader and reformer, has paid a visit to Fife.

He travelled to Scotland with his daughter Raja to explore political, school and college links between Fife and his home country.

After meetings with John MacDougall MP, Dr Craig Thomson, principal of Adam Smith College, Tony Finn, senior education service manager, and Victor Spence, director of Edinburgh Inter-Faith Association, Mr Elboushi spoke of his vision of teachers, students and community leaders moving between the two nations.

He said, “Like Scotland, we have a rich culture and are friendly, welcoming people. Khartoum has the reputation of being the safest capital city on the African continent.

“While Sudan is perceived as a divided nation, I genuinely believe that a peaceful future is within our grasp. People-to-people contact with Fife can only help this process.”

Mr Elboushi is dean of Wad Medani Community College, which he built from scratch to its present state of a centre of learning based on democratic values, promoting human rights and gender equality.

In response to questions about Darfur, he added, “Darfur is a long-standing problem and one which will ultimately be solved by Sudanese adopting the kind of approaches we are promoting in the college.

“Currently we are offering 200 scholarships to Darfur students to study with us, along with students from every corner of our nation, so we offer people the opportunity to debate, and to resolve their differences peacefully. It’s the best hope for our future.”