2023-09-15 08:09:06
Thousands of Sudanese took refuge in Egyptian Aswan, escaping the ongoing war in their country, and they contributed to reviving tourism in the southern Pharaonic city, outside their main city.
Hashem Ali (54 years old) arrived in Aswan, after covering thousands of kilometers from Khartoum, from which he fled under bombardment, to the Egyptian border in the north.
After finding an apartment for his family to live in in this big city, the former Sudanese employee hopes that his children will now benefit from their presence there.
Sitting on the balcony of a hotel, which is usually crowded during the winter tourist season, Ali says that he came “to spend a beautiful day with his family.”
He continued, while his children were having fun and their laughter rose around him, that he was keen on this outing in the hope that it would help his family forget “the war, the bombs, the air strikes, and the shelling.”
Since the war began in Sudan on April 15, between the army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces led by Mohamed Hamaden Dagalo “Hemedti,” about 310,000 Sudanese have taken refuge in Egypt.
On the other side of the border, many are waiting, after a sudden decision by Egypt in July, to reinstate entry visas for all Sudanese fleeing the war, after children and people over the age of fifty were crossing without a visa.
Zainab Ibrahim, 30 years old, succeeded in crossing the border 3 months ago.
Before that, she and her family remained locked inside her apartment in Khartoum, fearing aerial bombardment, artillery shells, and street battles.
She told Agence France-Presse: “I was pregnant and there was no hospital in which I could give birth to my child” in Sudan, where millions have become deprived of health care, after the war destroyed the Sudanese health system, which was originally fragile.
Once they enter Egypt, many Sudanese refugees head to Cairo, while others, like Ali and Ibrahim, prefer to stay in Aswan, the first largest Egyptian city for those coming from Sudan, approximately 300 kilometers from the border between the two countries.
Sudanese who fled the war in their country cool off on the banks of the Nile river in the Egyptian city of Aswan, on September 8, 2023. – Thousands have fled the war in Sudan to the Egyptian city of Aswan on the Nile, bringing with them an early…
سباحة في النيل
Before the start of the war, 4 million Sudanese resided in Egypt, according to the United Nations.
The majority of new arrivals aspire to reside permanently in Egypt, away from their country, which they believe “will not be able to rise again for decades.”
In the winter season, groups of Egyptian and foreign tourists come to Aswan to discover the Pharaonic antiquities, take a walk on the banks of the Nile, and enjoy the moderate temperatures during that period of the year.
But the people of Aswan did not expect such an influx of refugees, nor the opportunities they brought with them.
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On Sunday, the Sudanese army denied accusations by the Rapid Support Forces of launching a strike targeting civilians in the Mayo area, south of Khartoum.
While Egyptian tourists flee Aswan with the rising heat in the summer, tourist boats returned to work in early September.
Boats once again began organizing trips between the Nubian islands in the Nile, while the sounds of cheerful music blared. Families enjoy drinking Nubian coffee on the bank of the Nile, while guides advise passengers to bathe in the river water.
“racism”
“Since the war and the arrival of our Sudanese brothers, we have resumed activity and the demand for Nile cruises has increased,” says Mahmoud Al-Aswany, 19 years old, standing on a “felucca” (a small boat) that he has been working on for five years.
This was good news in a country going through a stifling economic crisis, during which the inflation rate reached a record level. However, not all Sudanese are received in the same way.
People take a boat trip along the Nile river in the Egyptian city of Aswan, on September 8, 2023. (Photo by ASHRAF SHAZLY / AFP)
In Cairo, some Sudanese complain of “discrimination and racism,” and of apartment and house owners who “exaggerate prices.”
But in Aswan, where Nubians have lived for thousands of years on the border between the two countries, the Sudanese found volunteers receiving them with hot meals. Ali constantly repeats: “Aswan is a beautiful city and its people are good.”
But apart from these few individual initiatives, refugees are left to face their fate on their own.
The Egyptian authorities prevent United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organizations from establishing camps to house refugees, stressing in return that expatriates are allowed to work and move freely.
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