Al Qadarif

The geographical feature of the city is marked by a group of hills surrounding it and small khors (tiny dry valley creeks). The largest is called Khor Maqadim, which runs from the southeast part of the city between Deim El Nur and Deim Suakin districts to the northwestern part of the city in Deim Bakr District. Its course overflows during the fall season, when heavy rain falls in the highland areas along the Ethiopian border. The climate of Gedaref is hot and rainy in the summer. The rainy season extends four months, with an average of annual rainfall of 700 to 900 mm. In the autumn during the rainy seasons, or Kharief (Arabic الخريف) as it is locally called, large pools of water and green meadows with trees of various kinds of acacia cover the area. …

Gedaref is a trade centre for cotton, cereals, sesame seeds, and fodder produced in the surrounding areas, and it is a well-known agriculture area where a mechanized farming scheme has been introduced since 1954. About 70% of the total mechanized farming in the Sudan is carried out in Gedaref. The aim of the mechanized farming is to develop the areas socially and economically. Many large and endless individual fields grew suddenly and have scattered over the whole area surrounding Gedarif such as Um-seinat, Al-Ghadambliya, making use of the fertile soil and abundant rainfall (avg. 700 to 900 mm/year), and relatively obtainable manpower. The River Gash Irrigation Scheme is located to the northeast of Al-Qaḍārif, while the Rahad Scheme and the famous Gezira Scheme lie to the west. …

The city is served by a station on the national railway network. It is linked with the capital Khartoum via Wad Medani city by a net of roads, railway, airway, and seasonal direct roads. It is also linked to Port Sudan city with roads and railway through Kassala at a distance of about 200 km. There are also roads to the Gallabat at the edge of the boundary with Ethiopia connecting Gedarif with the Ethiopian city of Gonder, and from there to the Ethiopian capital Addis Abeba. The city has also an airport called Azaza Airport (IATA: GSU , ICAO: HSGF ). The Gedaref State Broadcasting was established in 1995 with a frequency of 1485 kHz. A television station was followed in 1996 with a range of 50 km.

The population of the city is mainly Arab or Nuba Sudanese. It includes the indigenous Beja people. The total population is 269,395 (as of 2008). Inhabitants origins in Gedaref have rapidly changed during the last decades. Dwellers who belong to various nationalities had settled in the area along with the indigenous people. Today the mosaic of population includes many Sudanese tribes from different regions as far as Dar Fur, Kordofan, southern and northern Sudan. Tribes like Shaigiya, Baggara, Dinka, Fur, Nuba, Masalit, Shukriya, Beja, Hausa people, Songhay people and many other Sudanese tribes are represented in Gedaref. No other city in the Sudan, with exception of Khartoum and Port Sudan has so many dwellers of Foreign origin among its population, as Gedaref. …