Refugees in the Gorom Refugee Settlement. (Photo by Michael Kappeler/picture Alliance via Getty Images)
Ten months after war broke out in Sudan and hundreds of thousands of people fled, many of those who fled to neighboring Egypt are faced with a stark choice: become homeless or risk returning home. There is.
Rihab, a single mother, has been in Egypt for seven months, struggling to build a life for her children.
“I have a daughter who was born here, but I can't work to support her,” the 28-year-old told AFP.
Dozens of women gathered in a small church in eastern Cairo, in what appeared to be a rehabilitation facility, said their families had been crammed into overcrowded apartments and had been sleeping on bare floors since their arrival.
“People came to Egypt thinking their life would be better here,” said Ibram Kiir, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher from Sudan who has been in Egypt for five years and supports refugees through his church. says.
“But then reality hits. They have no money, they can't buy an apartment, it's cold and they can't buy winter clothes. So they turned back,” he told AFP.
More than 450,000 people have crossed the border into Egypt since fighting began in April between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, according to official figures.
Many told AFP that their priority was finding a safe place to lay their heads, even on cold tile floors.
But as the months passed, finding jobs, adequate housing and aid became nearly impossible as Egypt's two-year economic crisis rapidly worsened.
Just as war-weary Sudanese began to enter the country, soaring inflation, which hit a record high of 39.7% last year, hit their livelihoods hard.
Many people showed up with just the clothes on their backs. They ended up living two or three families at a time in small apartments, often with only one breadwinner earning less than the minimum wage.
Dan Miku Akom, a 34-year-old house cleaner who works part-time, tried to convince his friend that things would get better.
But after months of watching his family “couldn't even go to the kitchen to eat” due to overcrowding, “I made up my mind and returned to Sudan,” he told AFP.
“I'd rather die.”
Another Sunday school teacher, Randa Hussein, said her cousin left Cairo in October and returned to his home on the outskirts of war-torn Khartoum.
“I would rather die there than stay here,” said Hussein, 33.
Her family has not heard from her since.
Hussein is currently hosting another refugee. The woman, a 20-year-old mother of two, was staying at her grandmother's house when her landlord threatened to evict the elderly woman if her newcomers did not leave.
Unable to find a job or an apartment, “she insists on returning to Sudan,” Hussein said.
“She has a one-year-old who can't breastfeed. She doesn't know what to do.”
But back in Sudan, things are better than before. The Khartoum suburbs have been shelled beyond recognition, and the remaining houses are filled with fighters.
“People are being forced to choose between being homeless and being in danger,” said Sudanese political economist Raga Makawi.
“Unable to endure the poor conditions in Egypt, they chose to return home, preferring to negotiate security with armed groups whenever possible,” she told AFP.
For several Sudanese interviewed by AFP, the threat of homelessness is imminent.
Hawa Talfon, the preacher's wife, was kicked out with just two weeks' notice for taking in too many displaced families.
She lived in a house in eastern Cairo for five years before joining her brother's family to escape the war.
“What was I supposed to do? Kick them out?” she asked after the landlord objected to the guests.
'burden'
AFP spoke to dozens of Sudanese families across Cairo who faced the same fate, with landlords citing “excessive wear and tear” on their properties as reasons.
In the shadow of a nationwide financial crisis, human rights groups and Sudanese living in Egypt are warning of rising anti-refugee sentiment.
Yasser Ali, 40, who came to Cairo in 2002 to study law, told AFP that in just the past year, “everything has changed and people's attitude has become much more aggressive.”
According to Noor Khalil, executive director of the Egyptian human rights group Refugee Platform, it is a “purely misinformed concerted campaign to place the blame for the current economic crisis on the most vulnerable in society.” It is said that there exists.
“This is not the first campaign of this kind, but it is especially dangerous because it includes government officials,” Khalil told AFP.
Last month, the government announced an audit of how much Egypt's “guests” – what the regime calls 9 million refugees and migrants – cost the country.
Khalil and other human rights activists have tracked a near-parallel rise in social media posts depicting refugees as “burdens,” most of whom receive little or no support from the United Nations or governments.
Cairo insists the new arrivals are allowed to work and move “freely”.
Rent prices in Cairo have soared as the economic crisis worsens, but rights groups and Sudanese told AFP that landlords are particularly targeting Sudanese residents.
“Either you don't pay, or they find someone who will,” Keel said. In some cases, families like Talfon's are faced with another ultimatum: get rid of their “living person” or walk away.
As the war rages on, people are left with no choice.
“We can't go back, we can't move elsewhere and we can't stay here,” Ali said at a Sudanese community center in Cairo. There, too, they are under threat of eviction.
© Agence France-Presse