Unable to survive in Egypt, refugees return to Sudan. Egypt hosts nine million refugees and immigrants

THIS stomach churning report paints a picture of hopeless despair: unable to survive in Egypt, Sudanese refugees are returning to Sudan not knowing how or where to sleep safely. "We can't go back, we can't move anywhere else, and we can't stay here," Ali said from a Sudanese community centre in Cairo which is also under threat of eviction. Their priority, many told AFP, is finding anywhere safe to lay their heads, even if only on a cold tile floor. 

Read more in report from AFP via Yahoo.com
By Bahira Amin
Dated Tuesday, 13 February 2024, 1:55 AM GMT - here is a copy in full:

Unable to survive in Egypt, refugees return to war-torn Sudan

Sudanese drivers rest on May 14, 2023 after transporting evacuees from Sudan into Egypt, in Wadi Karkar village near Aswan (Khaled DESOUKI)

Ten months after Sudan's brutal war sent hundreds of thousands fleeing, many of those who sought refuge in neighbouring Egypt are caught between the grim choice of homelessness or returning at their own peril.

Single mother Rehab has been in Egypt for seven months, fighting to build a life for her children. "I have a daughter who was born here, and I can't work to provide for her," the 28-year-old told AFP.

Gathered in a small church in eastern Cairo, dozens of women like Rehab said their families -- cramped into overcrowded apartments -- have been sleeping on bare floors since they arrived.

"People came to Egypt thinking life will be better here," 28-year old Ibram Kiir, a Sunday school teacher from Sudan who has been in Egypt for five years and helps refugees through the church, told AFP.  "But then reality hits. They don't have any money, they can't get an apartment, it's cold and they can't get winter clothes. So they turn back," he said.

Since the fighting began in April between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, over 450,000 people have crossed the border into Egypt, according to official figures. Their priority, many told AFP, is finding anywhere safe to lay their heads, even if only on a cold tile floor.

But as the months stretch on, employment, proper housing and help become nearly impossible to find, with Egypt's two-year economic crisis rapidly worsening. Soaring inflation -- which registered a record high of 39.7 percent last year -- decimated livelihoods just as war-weary Sudanese began arriving.

Many turned up with just the clothes on their backs. They ended up staying in small apartments with two or three families at a time, many of them with only one breadwinner between them earning less than minimum wage.

Dan Mhik Akom, a 34-year-old who cleans houses part-time, tried to convince a friend things would get better. But after months watching his family "unable to even get to the kitchen to feed themselves" because of overcrowding, "he made up his mind and returned to Sudan," he told AFP.

- 'Rather die' -

Another Sunday school teacher, Randa Hussein, said her cousin left Cairo in October, heading back to her home on the war-ravaged outskirts of Khartoum. She said she "would rather die there than stay here," said Hussein, 33. Her family has not heard from her since.

Hussein is now hosting another refugee, a 20-year old mother of two who had been staying with her grandmother, until the landlord threatened the elderly woman with eviction if the newcomers did not leave. Unable to find a job or an apartment, "she's insisting on going back to Sudan," Hussein said. "She has a one-year-old she can't feed. She doesn't know what to do."

Yet back in Sudan, the situation is no better: her Khartoum neighbourhood has been shelled beyond recognition, and the homes that still stand are overrun with fighters. 

"People are being forced to choose between being homeless and being unsafe," said Sudanese political economist Raga Makawi. "Unable to afford even squalid conditions in Egypt, they choose to go back, preferring to negotiate their security with armed actors however they can," she told AFP.

The threat of homelessness is just around the corner for several Sudanese AFP interviewed.

Hawa Talfon, a preacher's wife, was kicked out with only two weeks' notice for hosting too many displaced family members. She had lived in her home in eastern Cairo for five years, before her brother's family joined her to flee the war. "What was I supposed to do? Kick them out?" she asked, after her landlord objected to her guests.

- 'Burden' -

AFP heard from dozens of Sudanese families across Cairo who faced the same fate, with landlords citing reasons such as "excess wear-and-tear" on their properties.

Under the shadow of the nationwide financial crisis, rights groups and Sudanese living in Egypt have warned of rising anti-refugee sentiment.

Yasser Ali, 40, who came to Cairo in 2002 to study law, told AFP that just in the past year, "everything has changed, people's attitudes have got a lot more aggressive."

According to Nour Khalil, founder of the advocacy organisation Refugees Platform in Egypt, there is "a concerted campaign, based purely on misinformation, to place the blame for the current economic crisis on society's most vulnerable."

Last month, the government said it would audit how much Egypt's "guests" -- as the administration calls nine million refugees and immigrants -- cost the country.

Almost in tandem, Khalil and other rights defenders tracked a rise in social media posts labelling refugees as a "burden", though most receive little to no assistance from either the United Nations or the government.

Cairo for its part holds that new arrivals are allowed to work and move "freely".

Rents have soared in Cairo as the economic crisis worsens, though rights groups and Sudanese told AFP landlords were specifically targeting Sudanese residents.

"You either pay up or they'll find someone who will," Kiir said, with some families like Talfon's given a different ultimatum: kick out "your own flesh and blood" or leave.

As the war rages, people have been left with no options.

"We can't go back, we can't move anywhere else, and we can't stay here," Ali said from a Sudanese community centre in Cairo -- which is also under threat of eviction.          

bha/sbh/dcp/jsa 

View original: https://news.yahoo.com/unable-survive-egypt-refugees-return-015555421.html

END

The International Day of Charity 5th September - Global Solidarity to Eradicate Poverty

PHOTO: ©Sadek Ahmed

From the website of the United Nations:

Global Solidarity to Eradicate Poverty

Charity, like the notions of volunteerism and philanthropy, provides real social bonding and contributes to the creation of inclusive and more resilient societies. 

Charity can alleviate the worst effects of humanitarian crises, supplement public services in health care, education, housing and child protection. It assists the advancement of culture, science, sports, and the protection of cultural and natural heritage. It also promotes the rights of the marginalised and underprivileged and spreads the message of humanity in conflict situations.

In the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development adopted in September 2015, the United Nations recognises that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development. 

The Agenda also calls for a spirit of strengthened global solidarity, focused in particular on the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable. It also acknowledges the role of the diverse private sector, ranging from micro-enterprises to cooperatives to multinationals, and that of civil society organizations and philanthropic organizations in the implementation of the new Agenda.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth in the Agenda can be grouped into six critical areas: people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. They have the potential to transform our lives and our planet by providing the framework needed for philanthropic institutions to enable all people to contribute to the betterment of our world.

Background

The International Day of Charity was established with the objective of sensitising and mobilising people, NGOs, and stakeholders all around the world to to help others through volunteer and philanthropic activities.

The date of 5 September was chosen in order to commemorate the anniversary of the passing away of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 "for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitute a threat to peace."

Mother Teresa, the renowned nun and missionary, was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910. In 1928 she went to India, where she devoted herself to helping the destitute. In 1948 she became an Indian citizen and founded the order of Missionaries of Charity in Kolkota (Calcutta) in 1950, which became noted for its work among the poor and the dying in that city.

For over 45 years she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity’s expansion, first in India and then in other countries, including hospices and homes for the poorest and homeless. Mother Teresa’s work has been recognized and acclaimed throughout the world and she has received a number of awards and distinctions, including the Nobel Peace Prize. Mother Teresa died on September 5th 1997, at 87 years of age.

In recognition of the role of charity in alleviating humanitarian crises and human suffering within and among nations, as well as of the efforts of charitable organisations and individuals, including the work of Mother Teresa, the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution A/RES/67/105 designated the 5th of September, the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa, as the International Day of Charity.

Resources

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• UN Sustainable Development Goals
• Human Development Report
• State of the World Population
• State of the World's Children

View Original: https://www.un.org/en/observances/charity-day

Jan Pronk: Millions of homeless people and children living in forgotten cities

Quote of the Day on refugee camps

"Thatched huts are upgraded into slums. Camp dwellers start exchanging belongings amongst themselves. Barter develops into markets. People try to make a living through prostitution and crime. Idleness fosters addiction to alcohol and drugs. Combatants come to hide themselves for a while within the camp and recruit youngsters for their militias. People in the camps start organizing themselves. The camps develop into cities, with an economy, a power structure and increasing violence.

Camps are cities in suspense. They suffer from shortages of water and sanitation, shaky food deliveries, oscillating relief assistance, despotic rulers, lawlessness and insecurity, both around the camp and inside."

-Jan Pronk, October 2009 (see copy below).

Professor Jan Pronk (pictured above) the UN Secretary General's former Special Representative to Sudan, now lives and works in The Netherlands. Here is a recently published column from Prof. Pronk's website.

Forgotten
By Jan Pronk
SID, 29 October 2009

Millions of people are living in forgotten cities. They are refugees and displaced persons, put away in camps at the margins of the modern world. Hardly ever a camp is closed down. Camps are swelling in order to offer refuge against continuing or newly emerging danger. Generations stay for decades in one and the same camp. They are doomed to die on the same dumping-ground where they had been born.

Is this acceptable? It seems to be, actually. The world outside is hardly offering a perspective on a new life outside the camps, only some to establish a little order within the camps themselves. Sustaining refugee survival within camps is easier and cheaper than halting the violence which they had to escape. They receive food, plastic sheeting, bore-holes and first aid. Clinics are set up to provide mother and child care. Occasionally some children get a little schooling, mostly in the open air, without books, pens, paper, blackboard and chalk and without salaries for the teachers. Thatched huts are upgraded into slums. Camp dwellers start exchanging belongings amongst themselves. Barter develops into markets. People try to make a living through prostitution and crime. Idleness fosters addiction to alcohol and drugs. Combatants come to hide themselves for a while within the camp and recruit youngsters for their militias. People in the camps start organizing themselves. The camps develop into cities, with an economy, a power structure and increasing violence.

Camps are cities in suspense. They suffer from shortages of water and sanitation, shaky food deliveries, oscillating relief assistance, despotic rulers, lawlessness and insecurity, both around the camp and inside.

The joy of having reached a sanctuary can boost a perspective. It can lead to action and persistence. However, in most camps life is marked by traumas and uncertainty. In these camps suffering abounds and life is desolate and empty.

In all refugee camps life and thought are determined by two things only: memories and expectations. Recollections prevail. Inside the camps everything is being relived, time and again. Bombardments and attacks are recalled and retold. Rape and killings come back to mind daily, together with the nightmares of the flight, the threats and terrors on the way, the fear not to last out. Not all refugees are able to reach safety. In Darfur one out of every seven refugees has been killed.

The recollections go together with the hope of a future in safety, outside the camp, and with expectations about life in decency. Camp dwellers are longing for return to the place where they did belong. They cherish the hope of reconstructing hearth and home and the desire resuming life back home or building a new existence somewhere else..

Refugees tell stories, time and again. Twenty five million refugees, and as many stories. In their stories the past prevails. But at the same time they are mesmerized by the future. People hope, without expecting much. They live between hope and desperation.

A camp may seem to be a static unit of time and space, dead and empty. However, it forms part of a turbulent history, part of a life full of tenacity and yearning. Present life within the camps is a function of both the past and the future. It is the sum total of stories, memories and contemplations, nothing more, but also nothing less: when expectations are betrayed and hopes are dashed, there is nothing left.

For refugees and displaced people in camps the present is empty, an endless repetition of nothingness: no jobs; no information; education devoid of sense; food, water, health and security in doubt – and, for the rest, waiting, just waiting, without any expectation. People sense that they have been forgotten, excluded and deprived of their rights. They find that they are voiceless, powerless and without any perspective. This feeling is right. In the eyes of people in the world outside a refugee is a loser, irrelevant, a burden, worthless, unworthy of rights indeed.

The longer the present will last, the emptier life will become. For millions of refugees and displaced people this is the reality of today. For them the future is a void, it means suffering. The past, on the other side, equals violence and death. The world they fled was a jungle. The camp, upon arrival, was a hiding place, an asylum and a sanctuary. However, gradually it became a dump, a junk heap and a prison. Like dumping grounds are being covered with soil to put these out of sight, camps are wrapped up with relief to salve our conscience. Rather than offering women, children, old age people, farmers, villagers and other civilians protection against evil powers that force them to seek refuge in a camp, the world is shielding itself from the camps with a thick layer of indifference. Rather than receiving displaced people in our midst we bury them far away from our own cities, outside our habitat, somewhere deep below the surface of a civilized society, like in dungeons where they easily are forgotten, out of sight, out of the picture, out of our minds.

The longer this lasts, the less hope - “there is nothing left to be done” –, but also: the more bitterness, frustration and resentment. The more refugees consider themselves forgotten, the greater the chance that the violence which they escaped will be fed by camp realities. At a certain moment camp dwellers are no longer interested in a solution of the conflict back home. They may start interpreting the camp as a bulwark behind which walls they cherish their own truths. They then give birth to an offspring which has nothing to loose and will only look forward renewing the fight. The resentment of such a new generation will not only be turned towards the enemy of their parents and ancestors, but against the world as a whole: “The world has written us off, now we are going to write off the world”.

(http://www.sidint.net/forgotten/)

About Jan

Jan Pronk is President of SID as well as Professor of Theory and Practice of International Development at ISS, the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands. From 2004 to 2006 he was Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations in Sudan, where he was leading the UN peace-keeping operation (UNMIS). He also served as Minister for Development Cooperation and Minister for the Environment of the Dutch government. Having studied economics at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, he has worked as a politician since the 1970s, first as a Member of Parliament for the Social Democratic Party and then as Minister.

Get in touch with Jan via Email.

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Photo from southern Sudan



Untitled photo from southern Sudan from Sudan Watch archives 2006 (source unknown).