Rights body calls for protection of refugees at risk in Eastern Sudan

July 10, 2024 (NAIROBI) – A New York based human rights group has expressed concerns over the lack of a clear protection or evacuation strategy for the over 1 million refugees living in Sudan when conflict started in the country in mid-April 2023.

Majority of the refugees either fled repression in Eritrea or atrocities in Ethiopia.

Concerns have been expressed after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) recently attacked towns across Sennar State, which borders Gedaref State where more than 40,000 refugees from Ethiopia are currently hosted.

Also, to the further east of Sudan, Eritreans fleeing repression and indefinite forces conscription at home have continued to arrive in the camps in Kassala state.

“If the fighting approaches Gedaref and Kassala, we will not be safe,” an Ethiopian refugee told Laetitia Bader, Human Rights Watch Director for Horn of Africa.

According to the US=based human rights body, since conflict erupted in Sudan, Ethiopian refugees, mainly hosted in Gedaref, have been raising very real concerns about their safety and the lack of humanitarian support. Some have independently sought ways to leave the camps, but many thousands remain.

Without a clear protection or evacuation strategy, there are concerns that those in the camps could face violence or targeted attacks by warring parties.

This comes in the wake of several allegations from the paramilitary RSF that Tigrayan forces are currently fighting alongside the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

The Sudanese army often releases videos of Ethiopian refugees allegedly captured fighting alongside the RSF, which explains the hostility to the group from army officers.

Also, refugees face the risk of mass arrests by SAF-aligned authorities in towns in Gedaref state, with reports that some Ethiopians have already been detained.

Human Rights Watch further said it continues to receive reports of forceful expulsion of Tigrayans with Ethiopian military complicity, to other parts of Tigray.

Here, they join several other internally displaced people facing dismal conditions.

Ethiopian authorities have reportedly formed a committee to return refugees in Sudan to Ethiopia, but those in camps need travel permits from authorities in Sudan.

The rights body has appealed to the United Nations agencies working with Sudanese and Ethiopian authorities to assist refugees seeking to leave with safe, dignified, voluntary, and organized pathways, while ensuring that no one is coerced or forced to return to locations where they would face serious risks.

Additional calls have been made to organizations and the international community to consider all possible means of support, including cash and transport, to ensure that refugees are moved out of any form of danger.

Aid agencies say the total number of people internally displaced in Sudan has exceeded 9 million, making it the largest internal displacement crisis in the world.

(ST)