Nubian Language Code: Invaluable intelligence tool in Egypt’s Strategic Deception Plan for October 6 War

CAIRO – 6 October 2024: Prophet Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “War is deception.” Believing in this hadith, Egyptians under the leadership of the late President and Nobel Laureate for Peace Mohamed Anwar Sadat developed a strategic deception plan prior to the war. This plan enabled them to launch a sudden attack on Israeli occupying forces and reclaim the Sinai Peninsula on October 6, 1973.

The Egyptian army, in coordination with intelligence agencies, devised a comprehensive deception plan across various levels—economically, socially, militarily, and diplomatically—while also utilizing misleading intelligence information. It was crucial for the Egyptian authorities to employ a coding language that was unknown to the enemy, which is the Nubian language.

The idea of using the Nubian language as a code for the Egyptian Army is credited to Nubian Sergeant Ahmed Idris. In a 2015 interview with Al-Arabiya, Idris mentioned that he noticed his superiors in the army were seeking new communication codes. He suggested using Nubian as a coded language to send encrypted messages among the Egyptian army personnel, especially since other previous encrypted messages had been decoded easily by Israel.

Idris added that his leaders forwarded his suggestion to the late President Sadat, who welcomed the idea. He advised Sadat to call upon Nubian military personnel who could speak the old Nubian language, noting that these Nubian forces were stationed as border security guards.

Ultimately, around 70 Nubian soldiers were trained to use the coded language behind enemy lines in Sinai between 1971 and 1973. Idris also revealed that Sadat asked him to keep the use of the Nubian language a secret. This code was employed by the Egyptian army until 1994.

During the October War, the word "Oshria," meaning "strike," was one of the most well-known terms in the Nubian code dictionary, while the phrase "Sa'a Awi" referred to "2:00 p.m.," according to Idris, who passed away in 2021 at the age of 84.