Yousra Elbagir is a Sudanese–British journalist and writer.

Early years and education

Elbagir was born in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

to a Sudanese journalist and politician father, and to a publisher and business person mother. Her mother is known to be the first female publisher in Sudan. She grew up in the United Kingdom until she was 8 years old, when her family moved to

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. She moved back to London at the age of 16 and there, she acquired her A levels and graduated from the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

with honours after studying Social Anthropology.

Journalism

Elbagir started her journalistic experience by participating in student publications during her studies at St Andrews. Elbagir returned to Sudan in 2015 after her studies to train as a journalist in the field for a year and half. , she was working as a freelance reporter in Khartoum and was a producer for Elephant Media. Her works have been featured on HBO,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, BBC Africa, BBC Radio 4,

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

, The Financial Times and

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. Elbagir is well-known for having launched the #SudanUnderSanction online media campaign in which Sudanese women and men discussed the effects of the trade sanctions against Sudan. In 2019, Elbagir reported on the

Sudanese Revolution The Sudanese Revolution was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 Sudane ...

while working for

. She criticised the beginning steps of the Sudanese institutional transition to democracy, stating, "For the

irst An infrared search and track (IRST) system (sometimes known as infrared sighting and tracking) is a method for detecting and tracking objects which give off infrared radiation, such as the infrared signatures of jet aircraft and helicopters. IR ...

tangible political progress of decades to exclude women is ridiculous. ... Women were the reason that the mass pro-democracy sit-in was able to continue for nearly two months. They ran make-shift clinics, fed fasting protesters daily during Ramadan, they spent the night at check points searching female protesters."

Personal life

Elbagir is the younger sister of the award-winning CNN journalist and TV correspondent

Nima Elbagir Nima Elbagir ( ar, نعمة الباقر; born July 20, 1978) is a Sudanese-born journalist and an award-winning international television correspondent. Elbagir joined CNN as a London-based international correspondent. In 2008, she picked up tw ...

Awards

* In 2016, Elbagir was awarded the 2016

Thomson Foundation The Thomson Foundation is a media development not-for-profit organisation based in London, United Kingdom but operating worldwide. It was founded in 1962 and was the first charitable foundation with the specific aim of training journalists in deve ...

& Foreign Press Association Young Journalist Award for her in-depth reporting on the effects of United States sanctions against Sudan. *In 2017, she was included in OkayAfrica's 100 Women list.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elbagir, Yousra Living people Sudanese journalists Sudanese women journalists Alumni of the University of St Andrews People from Khartoum Sudanese emigrants to the United Kingdom Year of birth missing (living people)