Sudanese flee to Egypt as Cairo works to avoid ‘refugee crisis’

As tens of thousands of Sudanese stream north across the border into Egypt fleeing violence, stories are surfacing of days-long delays at the border, with travelers suffering in the heat without food, water or shelter.

But, observers say, the mass exodus turning into a refugee crisis for Egypt seems unlikely for now.

Sudan erupted into violence two weeks ago when the army, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo, attacked each other with helpless civilians caught in the crossfire .

Fighter jets thundered overhead as foreign governments and international organizations evacuated their citizens and foreign personnel, and Sudanese marched to the border to escape.

Late Friday on Twitter, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi tweeted that an estimated 50,000 people had fled Sudan for Egypt, Chad, South Sudan and the Central African Republic – and the number was expected to rise. increase.

UNHCR estimates that more than 50,000 people have fled Sudan for Chad, Egypt, South Sudan and the Central African Republic – this includes Sudanese nationals and refugees who have been forced to return to their countries by the ongoing fighting.

The outflow will grow unless the violence stops.

— Filippo Grandi (@FilippoGrandi) April 28, 2023

Chaos or controlled access?

There are two border crossings into Egypt, Argeen and Qustul-Ashkit in Wadi Halfa, and they are located on the western and eastern shores of Lake Nubian respectively. All men between the ages of 17 and 49 have been told to go to Halfa and apply for an Egyptian visa at the consulate there.

Women and men under the age of 17 and over the age of 49 can cross at Argeen without a visa, which means that many families are separated and have to wait for their male relatives in Argeen.

“We had a lot of problems because my son was older and needed a visa, which took maybe a whole day,” Mostafa, who asked to be identified only by his first name, told Al Jazeera shortly after arriving in the southern Egyptian country. had arrived. town of Aswan with his wife and four children.

But once that hurdle was cleared, Mostafa and his family foresaw no problems in Egypt as they could afford to move there.

Processing on the Egyptian side is slow, with some people waiting days to hear their name so they can enter the country. An Egyptian journalist, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said such delays are an indication that extra caution is being taken to check on anyone coming through.

The government has announced the formation of a crisis task force to monitor the situation with members from the ministries of defence, interior and foreign affairs, as well as the General Intelligence Directorate.

The Sudanese side of the border crossing has no facilities for the travelers and the Egyptian side only has the Egyptian Red Crescent helping people as the government has reportedly not authorized any other agencies to operate on the border.

An Egyptian human rights lawyer, who spoke to Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, said civil society organizations were preparing to help the arrivals but were waiting for government approval.

There is no official confirmation, but observers say the UN has completed talks with the Egyptian government and is in Aswan to assess needs in the south.

UNHCR spokeswoman Christine Bishay said in an email that the UN will “support people in need with life-saving relief supplies that will be delivered to the borders through Egypt’s Red Crescent teams.” The assistance to be provided includes “water and hygiene items, transportation and medical assistance”.

Expensive travel

The travelers who come to Egypt are relatively wealthy and can afford the highly inflated price for their journey north. Al Jazeera was told by a middle-aged Sudanese woman waiting for a train at Aswan station that some bus owners had raised the price of a ticket from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to Aswan from $100 to $400-$600.

After paying for herself and three family members to enter Egypt, she was surprised to be dropped off at Wadi Karkar station, where they had to pay nine times the usual price for tickets to Aswan, 15 minutes away.

The costs don’t stop when they arrive in Aswan, as almost all arrivals travel onwards by train or bus to the Egyptian capital, where they have plans to fly to other countries, or have homes or relatives. While the train station is busy during departure hours, people no longer sleep in the station or on the streets of Aswan at night and all hotels in the city are at full capacity.

Some hotels in the Nubian village on the west bank of the Nile in Aswan have offered Sudanese travelers steep discounts out of a sense of Nubian solidarity between the people of southern Egypt and northern Sudan, their management told Al Jazeera.

While some travelers were unwell because they ran out of medicines for chronic conditions like diabetes, they had the financial means to buy them and quickly recovered.

The journalist said that once travelers cross the border crossing, the situation in Egypt is not what is typically expected of a “refugee crisis”, nor does the Egyptian government want it to develop in that direction due to security concerns.

The government will not want to offer free access to people crossing the border and will not be willing to set up camps, the journalist said.

Aside from travellers’ accounts, little information is coming from the areas south of Aswan and Egyptian journalists have just been given permission to go there, but the situation is expected to become clearer in the coming days.