From Sudan to Egypt „We are still alive“

From LUJAIN ALSEDEG

taz Panter Stiftung, 22.06.2023 | This article was published in German translation in the taz on 20.06.2023. We publish here the original unedited English version.

On 26 April 2023, after 11 days of being in the middle of the armed conflict between Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Khartoum, me and my small family started our displacement journey, we moved from our house in Jabra, Khartoum to Haj Yousif; a neighborhood in north-east Khartoum and then to Atbara; a city in northeastern Sudan and finally settled in Port Sudan. We left behind our home and lifelong belongings, taking only a small bag of necessities each.

Port Sudan was a destination that we were familiar with, having my mother’s family there meant that we didn't have to think of renting a house. The prices of rent outside Khartoum were unreasonable starting from almost $100 per day for small studio apartments, these prices were way above the average income in Sudan even before the conflict. Displacement was an option that some of us couldn’t afford.

We quickly settled in my grandmother's house and spent a couple of days recovering from the journey and the horrors of the war in Khartoum. Port Sudan is a city on the Red Sea in eastern Sudan, when we arrived there the few scattered clashes between SAF and RSF were settled and the city was completely controlled by the Sudanese army.

Uncertainties increase prices

Port Sudan was quickly named the administrative capital, the NGOs started using the city to run their humanitarian relief efforts and a sense of normalcy was maintained for appearances, but the reality that most of locals felt was the fact that Port Sudan was now cripplied financially, like many cities on the Red sea coast, Port Sudan economy is heavily controlled by the port. Which was now used only to evacuate foreigners, hundreds of people who worked on the port were left now without their sole source of income. These economic tensions and uncertainties led to the increase of prices, from rent to basic groceries everything was doubled in prices.

The financial pressure led some people to return back to Khartoum, you could easily wake up one day and discover that you can no longer afford the same meal that you had yesterday, the changes were rapid and had devastating effects on everyone.

When we were on our way to Port Sudan, we only had to worry about our safety, but weeks into our stay in the city, we had to ask ourselves if we can afford living in Port Sudan.

The honest answer to that question meant that we have to move again, but this time outside Sudan, we decided to head North, the borders to Egypt were open, and the Four Freedoms Agreement between Egypt and Sudan meant that me, my mom and sister can travel there without visas, we had to leave behind my older sister and her kids on the hopes that they can follow us when we finally settle down in Cairo.

We couldn’t risk bringing my 7 years old niece and 4 years old nephew on another long journey by road while they were still recovering from the first one, especially since we heard horror stories about the border, with no access to water and shelter from the sun, kids often fell sick waiting for their turn to enter the border.

Sudden change in immigration rules

On 24 May 2023, we said our goodbyes and took the bus to Karima; a town in Northern State. The journey took ten hours and we had to rest and spend the night there. We headed to the border at 4am the next morning.

We entered Argeen border in Northern Sudan at 10 pm, our bus was number 108 in the line of buses waiting to enter the border, and while we were waiting an executive order was issued by the egyptian government to deny the entry of anyone without a passport, up until that time entering Egypt with an emergency travel document was allowed and thousands of families relied on that leniency to move their elderlies, and the impact of the news was devastating on most of the big families on our bus and the buses around us.

People were crying, shouting and begging Sudanese and egyptians officers to let them cross the border, but we only heard one phrase “The decision was final and effective immediately”, our bus driver came after a couple of hours of talking with the officers and said that in order for the bus to move forward in the line and enter the egyptian side of the border, we have to leave behind all the people without passports, in our bus that meant leaving behind three families, two of them had to carry their elders in and out of the bus, they were sick and the whole trip was made to make sure that they have access to stable medical care and now they have to be left stranded in the middle of the desert with no access to medical care.

The situation on the border was already disastrous, the few emergency tents that were set by the Red cross were not nearly enough for the thousands of people waiting in line, while we were trying to secure an ambulance for the two elders that were asked to leave our bus, we found out that a elderly person passed away in the line in front of us. And no ambulance can be found.

41 °C temperature was unbearable

We spent 24 hours at the border, there were no clean bathrooms, the only grocery store at the Sudanese side of the border was overpriced, and the 41 °C temperature was unbearable, hundreds of people were scattered across the desert, trying to find a bus to take them back after they were denied entry at the border.

After spending 12 hours at the Egyptian side of the border, waiting for our names to be called after submitting the passports, we were finally granted entry to Egypt, leaving behind thousands of people waiting for their turn.

According to the United Nations more than 225,000 people have fled the war in Sudan to Egypt in the past two months, seeking refuge in one of the two countries where Sudanese citizens were allowed to enter without a visa, the other country is South Sudan.

But soon after we left, the Four Freedoms Agreement was revoked, and now my sister and her kids have to apply for a visa to enter Egypt.

In the few days after we left Sudan, many countries changed their visa laws, making it harder for Sudanese people to leave Sudan. UAE and Saudi Arabia announced that they will not issue any new visas for Sudanese people till further notice, the rest of the neighboring countries all require an entry visa except for South Sudan.

The Sudanese people were now either trapped inside because they couldn’t bring all their papers while fleeing war, and those who managed to escape have to deal with the new movement restrictions because the world decided that after only two months of the conflict, we were already a burden.

Many leave Egypt again

From Argeen we took the bus to Aswan, at the bus stop we were surprised to see buses full of people returning back to Sudan, we were met with the harsh reality you can enter Egypt but still find yourself forced back. Egypt is going through an economic crisis that made it harder even for Egyptians to sustain themselves. And I can only imagine the hard circumstances that forced these people back to a war zone.

I am now settled in Cairo, with a 6 months residency and stable internet access to work and support my family, my sister and her kids are still with the rest of my extended family in Port Sudan, surviving 12 hours power cuts and unbearable heat, they are trying to issue passports for my nephew and niece since the emergency travel documents are no longer an option, after that they have to submit their passports to get a visa from the Egyption consulate, we have no idea whether this process will take weeks or months.

I still have an uncle left in Khartoum, he is there despite the constant bombing and looting, with his wife and two daughters. Together with his neighbors, they created a small community that shares basic necessities and protects each other. They stand as one of the few civil occupied neighborhoods left in Khartoum.

We now sit in front of the TV every morning waiting for a sign that things are calming down, instead we are met with stories of horrors in Al-Geneina, the war zone has now expanded to western Sudan. A region that was already suffering from armed conflicts and only recently signed a peace agreement.

We have every reason to lose hope right now, but everytime I talk to my friends and family inside and outside Sudan, I am met with an overwhelming amount of resilience. We are still alive and we are still trying our best to survive this.