Face of Truth | Ibrahim Shglawi
Information Security and Data Recovery..
The current Sudanese scene is fraught with complex challenges and ambiguous structural crises that affect the sovereignty of the state and the independence of its national decision. Amid these circumstances, some important news sometimes passes without receiving the attention and contemplation it deserves.
Among such news is what the media recently reported regarding the recovery and operation of the National Data Center in Khartoum. This is a report that reflects a major transformation in the structure of the Sudanese state and perhaps a pivotal moment in its complex path toward regaining its security coherence.
The announcement by the Minister of Digital Transformation and Communications, Engineer Ahmed Al-Dardiri, of the reoperation of the National Center after the completion of its technical and technological rehabilitation—over an area estimated at 1,300 square meters, equipped with cloud computing systems, data security, and artificial intelligence—cannot be considered merely an administrative achievement. Rather, it is a signal of a shift in the official mindset of the state, which appears to have begun rethinking the tools of control, the keys to decision-making, and the foundations of reconstruction for the next phase.
The National Data Center is not merely a digital infrastructure; it is a vital nerve in the body of the modern state, and a governing tool in reorganizing the public sphere, regulating institutional and procedural operations, and restoring central authority. Here arises a fundamental question: What does it mean for a state to have the capacity to manage its data?
In the Sudanese case, the answer goes beyond the technical and technological aspects to the essence of politics, sovereignty, and governance. It moves from the field of software to the realm of authority.
Owning data means possessing the tools of governance, control over resources, planning for development, and protecting national decision-making from dependency—especially in an environment torn by ambitions and power struggles through the gateway of information security.
Despite the conditions of war and the challenges of rebuilding infrastructure, the concerned ministry succeeded in fighting a different kind of battle: silent, non-military, yet decisive. It is the battle for the right to digital existence, through which the state restored its institutional pulse and sent a national message saying that Sudan, though surrounded by pressure, is still present in its fundamental sovereign structure. Recovery is not a theoretical dream but a realistic path that begins with regaining administrative tools.
The return of the Data Center does not only mean the operation of archiving and transaction systems but the revival of the state’s very pulse, giving it the opportunity to reorder its priorities from within—away from the chaos of war.
Digital management today is not a luxury but an existential condition for the continuity and cohesion of states, especially in moments of bureaucratic disintegration and the decline of the unifying regulatory authority of services and information security.
Data has become in this era an essential component of national security, no less important than borders, weapons, or the economy. A state that loses its digital keys becomes vulnerable to infiltration or domination.
Therefore, the restoration of the National Data Center means that Sudan has regained one of the most important tools of sovereignty, governance, and the ability to organize and manage.
On the regional and international level, digital infrastructure has become a silent arena of competition between major powers—a competition less noisy than cannons and more impactful than diplomacy. And since Sudan is located at the heart of a regional geography full of ambitions and challenges, possessing its digital infrastructure provides it with political and security fortification, placing it in a position of parity when dealing with international actors, in addition to creating an environment attractive to investment and development partnerships.
This transformation gains additional importance as it is a fundamental condition in any upcoming political process; for it is impossible to imagine fair elections or a credible democratic transition without protected databases and transparent digital systems. The absence of solid informational infrastructure means reproducing randomness and chaos, and stripping the political process of its essence.
The restoration of the National Data Center is not merely an administrative act but a sovereign one that reflects a new awareness of the relationship between authority and knowledge, between the state and data. It is a step to reduce informational fragility, which represents one of the most dangerous aspects of collapse. A state that loses control over its data gradually loses its ability to protect its citizens, institutions, and legal entity.
Therefore, this event—however simple it may appear to some—is a foundational moment that can be built upon. It reflects an internal will trying to rise from beneath the collar of siege and betrayal and reestablish the serious national project based on the tools of the era and the requirements of administrative modernity.
According to #FaceOfTruth, when Khartoum restores its Data Center, it restores its sovereign awareness and digital pulse and declares that chaos is not an imposed destiny but a condition that can be overcome through will and organization. Perhaps these digital procedures are the first indication of a long recovery path that revives the debate about the future of the state from the perspective of knowledge, organization, and digital sovereignty—not from the perspective of weapons and regional or international blackmail.
Wishing you well and good health.
Tuesday, October 14, 2025
Shglawi55@gmail.com
