Refugees carry tales of war and loss into Egypt
▶ Women who fled the violence in Sudan and Gaza describe avoiding soldiers and adjusting to a new life
Women from Gaza and Sudan gathered in Cairo to share their stories of fleeing conflict at home to seek refuge in Egypt.
While the conflicts are incomparable in terms of scale and political scope, the violence raging in Sudan and the besieged Palestinian enclave share two grim themes: they have killed tens of thousands displaced millions.
Since the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces went to war in April last year, about 1.1 million people have fled to neighbouring countries. UN data shows about 450,000 have sought refuge in Egypt.
A fraction of that number have crossed from Gaza into Egypt since Israel began its war on the enclave, with the violence killing more than 32,400 so far. It began after Hamas launched an attack on Israel that killed about 1,200.
About 27,000 dual passport holders, helped by foreign governments, have been allowed to leave the Gaza Strip through Egypt since October 7, a report from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry showed.
“The vast majority of Gazans remain trapped inside the strip and have not been allowed to leave. This is because this is not a war for land or power – this is an ethnically motivated extermination whose purpose is to end Palestinians,” Gazan journalist Seba Ismail said in Cairo on Tuesday.
The war in Sudan is mainly a fight for control of the country and its resources.
“I saw photos of my house for the first time the day before yesterday. I cannot describe how bad it felt to see it abandoned,” said Fahima Hashem, a rights activist whose family fled to Egypt last year.
“The structure itself was fine, only the main hall had been burnt. But everything inside it was gone, stolen.
“All they left were my bookshelves and the books on them were untouched.”
Six million Sudanese are internally displaced, most of them forced to relocate every few days depending on where the military and RSF are fighting, Ms Hashem said.
In addition to facing hunger, exhaustion and a lack of healthcare services, Sudanese are also forced to find ways to avoid armed groups, after reports of abuses including sexual assault.
“For three hours, I was part of a group of hundreds that walked through the Nile River to avoid battalions of soldiers stationed on the roads,” a nurse said in a recording.
“It was mayhem, the elderly women were falling in the water and had to be carried.
“We ran into soldiers from both armies on our way to Egypt and they would threaten us and interrogate us with the most infuriating questions.”
The nurse warned that hospitals in the Darfur region had all but stopped functioning amid a shortage of medicine.
Media coverage is also a key area of difference between the wars, with the Gaza conflict dominating headlines around the world.
“There was no real coverage of the Sudan war during its first six months, until the world’s eyes were brought to the region by what happened in Gaza,” Ms Hashem said.
Fatima Ashour, a Gazan rights lawyer who arrived in Egypt, said the various facets of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis meant it captured the attention of people around the world.
“I believe Palestine’s case has drawn so much attention in the media because it involves complex abuses by multiple parties,” she said.
“Firstly, there is the Zionist occupation’s aggression, then there is abuse from Palestinian authorities, like Hamas, on the lives of civilians.”
The fact the Sudanese war has been spread across the country has made it almost impossible to document the violence, Ms Hashem said.
“It is too dangerous for local journalists to travel to provide real coverage of the war,” she added.
“And I don’t think international news organisations will risk their correspondents’ lives to cover such a large war, especially when its importance to the West is not so great.”
While everyone who spoke at the event on Tuesday was grateful to have escaped war, their decision to the leave their homeland and loved ones behind remains painful.
Some experience waves of survivors’ guilt.
“We love Egypt and always have, but we Sudanese are not used to living in such tight quarters,” Ms Hashem said.
“Our homes are always larger, more open, with front yards for the children to play, so having to live in a tighter, urban setting has been a reminder of what we lost.”