Sudan’s Hidden Refugees: The Plight of Tigrayans in Sudan

The war in Sudan is recognizable worldwide as synonymous with the intense human suffering it has caused. The war quickly catapulted Sudan into being the world's largest internal displacement crisis, with currently approximately 10.7 million people displaced in Sudan. In addition, more than two million have fled Sudan entirely since the war began in April of last year..Sudan has further become one of the world's largest hunger crises, with the UN estimating approximately 25.6 million people, half of Sudan's population, are facing acute hunger. Very little aid enters the nation, and when it does, it is wholly inadequate to suit the needs of the population..Further still, millions of people receive no aid at all..Of the more than 10 million people that are internally displaced within Sudan, approximately two million of those were displaced before the outbreak of the war. Sudan has long been enveloped in different conflicts that have caused displacement nationwide..However, some of those displaced prior to the war were not displaced due to a conflict in Sudan but rather due to a conflict in Sudan's neighbor, Ethiopia..The outbreak of the Tigray war in November of 2020, between the Ethiopian central government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), caused the displacement of millions and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in the two years that it raged..Over the course of the war, approximately 60,000 Tigrayans fled Tigray into neighboring Sudan. While the war technically ended in 2022, there are several factors that have prevented the return of those refugees. These same factors have resulted in approximately 1.4 million people still being displaced within Tigray itself, despite the war having ended nearly two years ago in November of 2022..In order to enlighten us as to the ongoing crisis, and the sufferings of the Tigrayan people in Sudan, we were able to speak to two people..The first is Ms. Batseba Seifu, a Tigrayan activist who was able to inform us as to the crisis and the key issues causing it..Ms. Seifu holds a Master of Public Administration from New York University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Public Administration and Policy. She has worked with a number of different Tigrayan activist groups and participated in several different campaigns to raise international awareness on the different crises facing Tigray..The second is a man named Dejen, a former UN peacekeeper that has become one of the tens of thousands of Tigrayan refugees in Sudan..Dejen provides us a deeper look into the issues confronting refugees on the ground, and a different outlook on the crisis with the unique issues that him and other former peacekeepers turned refugees face in Sudan..So let's take a look at this crisis, the issues confronting the Tigrayan refugees, and at what is being done about it..The Tigray War.It is important first to understand why Tigrayans have been displaced..On the 3rd of November, 2020, a years-long buildup of political tensions between the TPLF, a longstanding political party/paramilitary, and the Ethiopian central government exploded into war. The resulting war lasted two years, ending officially on November 3rd, 2022. Over the course of the war, an estimated 160,000 to 600,000 civilians were killed. A significant portion of these deaths were from hunger in a famine that Tigray continues to face. Accurate fatality counts are difficult to reach due to an information blackout that the Ethiopian government instated during the war..The war was primarily concentrated in Tigray, which witnessed intense levels of destruction at the hands of the forces of the Ethiopian government, Eritrea, and militia forces from the Amhara region of Ethiopia..Much of the destruction was targeted, with significant portions of Tigrayan critical infrastructure being damaged or destroyed, and significant portions of Tigray's farmland, crop storage, and livestock were damaged or destroyed, and in the case of farmland, sabotaged to make future use difficult..Tigrayan civilians were further targeted in ethnic-based attacks throughout Tigray, with a concentration in western Tigray where Amharas regional forces were attacking. Amhara had claimed the region as their "ancestral homeland," and have been accused of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Tigrayans there in order to attempt to integrate the land forcefully..Attacks against civilians (including rampant sexual violence), widespread combat, and rampant hunger prompted the displacement of millions, including the 60,000 who fled to Sudan..Dejen's story is a little different, however. Dejen, and the other 153 ethnically Tigrayan UN peacekeepers of the Ethiopian National Defence Forces (ENDF), were in Sudan on a monitoring mission in Darfur, in western Sudan, and in Abyei, a disputed territory between Sudan and South Sudan..This mission was in progress when the Tigray War began. As members of the Ethiopian military, they were required to withdraw from Sudan back to Ethiopia. However, amidst reports of ethnically targeted attacks against Tigrayans, and unwilling to participate in the war against their homeland, Dejen and the other ethnically Tigrayan peacekeepers opted to remain in Sudan, seeking asylum in the nation..The Complications of the Sudan War.The Tigray War began and ended before the beginning of the present Sudan War. The general region, both in Sudan and Ethiopia, has suffered for several years from inadequate food access. Tigrayan refugees in Sudan were able to receive some assistance from the UN and other humanitarian organizations; however, the outbreak of the war has complicated this..There are a series of different issues facing the UN when it comes to aid delivery..One of the most prevalent of these issues is how widespread combat is in the nation. While there have been some areas that have not been hit by the war, significant portions of Sudan have been destroyed, while combat continues in many areas as well. Combat being widespread makes some areas simply inaccessible to the UN, cutting millions of people off from aid..Additionally, the UN has faced a persistent lack of funding for the programs it is attempting to run. Despite multiple fundraisers attempting to fully fund the programs, the UN has consistently fallen short of their goals for fundraising. As such, they work with limited resources that hamper their ability to deliver sufficient aid..The UN also faces a series of bureaucratic impediments that make aid delivery difficult. In addition to slowing the arrival of aid in Sudan, these impediments have made it difficult for humanitarian workers in the UN's agencies and other humanitarian organizations to get visas and other necessary certification to work in Sudan..As combat expanded throughout the country, these issues have mostly worsened. In recent months, the UN reported that their certification approval rate had gone up, and hundreds of millions of dollars were pledged in a humanitarian conference in April; however, the needs of the population have also gone up during this time..As is the case with the rest of Sudan, the outbreak of war has immensely complicated aid delivery to the Tigrayan refugees. The UN renders assistance when possible; however, as stated, it is not enough to suit the refugees' needs. The Sudanese military government has not offered the refugees any assistance..A Lack of Options.The expansion of combat has brought the frontline to approximately 80 kilometers away from the closest Tigrayan refugee camp. Further, several of these refugee camps are close to the city of Al-Qadarif, the capital of the Sudanese state of the same name..The RSF reportedly aims to capture this city, meaning if the RSF continues its advances, the front line will be brought to the refugees..The war growing closer has left the refugees with a supreme lack of safe options. The refugee camps the Tigrayan refugees primarily reside in are in the east of the country in areas near to Tigray in northern Ethiopia, and to Eritrea. The security conditions in Ethiopia/Tigray prevent their safe return. Eritrea was not only a participant in the war against Tigray, but also has rampant human rights abuses that make it not a safe option either..The lack of options puts the refugees directly in harms way..The leader of the RSF, Mohamed 'Hemedti' Hamdan Dagalo, has accused the TPLF of supporting the SAF over the RSF. Many are worried that this accusation against the TPLF of support could translate into a belief among the RSF that the Tigrayan refugees themselves support the SAF over the RSF..Dejen stated that there is worry among the refugees of an RSF attack upon some of the refugee camps, particularly considering the proximity of some of the camps to Al-Qadarif. The RSF has been known to carry out attacks against civilian populations on a multitude of occasions..In particular, Dejen and the other former peacekeepers are particularly vulnerable due to the possibility the RSF may perceive them as a threat due to their military experience..Prevented Return.As mentioned, several factors make it unsafe for the Tigrayan refugees in Sudan to return to their homes. The most prevalent of these is the continued occupation of a significant portion of Tigray by Amhara regional forces and the Eritrean military. Approximately 40% of Tigray, including much of it (which is notedly some of Tigray's most fertile lands), remains occupied by Amhara and Eritrean forces..The ethnic targeting carried out by the forces of both Eritrea and Amhara has created significant insecurity for Tigrayans who still reside in the occupied regions, and makes it unsafe for the Tigrayans displaced in Sudan to return, as they would be at risk of such attacks if they were to do so..In the case of Dejen and the other peacekeepers, however, their return is, of course, prevented by these factors, but also by the Ethiopian government. The Ethiopian government has declared the peacekeepers, as former members of the Ethiopian military, to be traitors, claiming they have committed treason by remaining in Sudan instead of returning to Ethiopia..This designation would prevent their return even if the conditions on the ground in Tigray allowed for the return of the other refugees..To create a safe return for the refugees, significant change will need to occur in Ethiopia. Namely, the full terms of the Pretoria Agreement (the agreement that ended the Tigray War) would have to be implemented. The Pretoria Agreement carries within it a provision to "safeguard the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security of the country from foreign incursion," and the government is to have soldiers deployed along the "international boundaries" of Ethiopia..The full implementation of this would mean an end to the Eritrean occupation of areas of northern Tigray, contributing to an improved security situation in the region and the ability for some of those still displaced to return home. Shortly after the signature of the Pretoria Agreement, a declaration of the senior commanders of both sides declared that any non-ENDF forces would be required to withdraw from Tigray. This would include Amharas forces. .The full implementation of the Pretoria Agreement and this declaration would see Tigray free from occupation..Pressing Issues.Dejen, alongside the other peacekeepers and activists, has repeatedly requested the UN to relocate the former peacekeepers to a safe third country, given the imminent danger they face in Sudan and the danger they'd face in Ethiopia with the label of treason from the Ethiopian government (which they have further requested UN assistance in repealing)..This has, of course, yet to happen. The UN has largely only provided non-answers and generic responses to the requests of activists on the matter. For Dejen, in his conversations with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) the UN has told him they are working on a solution, but have yet to produce any answers of substance..A potential attack from the RSF is not the only danger that Dejen is facing..In early July, he was attacked alongside one of his fellow former peacekeepers by uniformed, armed soldiers of the SAF. The incident took place close to the city of Al-Qadarif, while the two were returning to the Um Gargour refugee camp from working in Al-Qadarif..While on their way back, they were stopped and hit by five SAF soldiers. They attempted to display to the soldiers their documentation, including refugee IDs, but were forced by the soldiers to enter a Bajaj (a three-wheeled vehicle) regardless of their documentation. There were two armed men in the Bajaj with them, two more in a separate Bajaj, and then a patrol car in the front..They were driven away from the city under the threat of death..Eventually, they were released by the Sudanese soldiers, but not before they seized their money, documentation, and phones and left them on the outskirts of the city. They had to continue their journey on foot, before a passerby picked them up and returned them to the camp, 25 kilometers away..Dejen reports that when he was initially hit by one of the soldiers, they asked if he was Ethiopian. He replied saying that yes, he was from Tigray, Ethiopia, before the soldier told him that he was their enemy. Dejen further stated that the administrator of the Um Gargour camp told him that the attack took place over anger at Ethiopia over the deaths of Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia..In recent months the FANO militia in the Amhara region of Ethiopia has launched several attacks on camps of Sudanese refugees in the region. Several Sudanese refugees have been killed in these attacks. The incident in which Dejen was attacked took place not long after Sudanese refugees were killed in an attack by FANO..Dejen and the other peacekeepers first requested evacuation from Sudan by the UN when the war erupted last year. Dejen's requests have intensified after the incident in July, which he had reported to the UN, but the situation has not changed, and the UN appears no closer to offering him or any of the other former peacekeepers any solutions..What Needs to Happen.The refugees are presently caught between Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea, all three of which are unsafe for them. As peace in Sudan appears unlikely in the near future, with peace processes continually falling flat, it remains a distinct possibility that combat will reach the Tigrayan refugees, who will be placed in harms way..A solution to the issue requires significant action to be taken by the Ethiopian government. Namely the full, genuine implementation of the Pretoria Agreement and the Declaration of Senior Commanders, which includes an end Amharas occupation of western Tigray..For Dejen and the other former peacekeepers, peace for them will require a reversal of the Ethiopian government's designation of them as traitors..An end to the conflict in Sudan, whether temporary or permanent, may provide temporary relief. However, as stated, this appears unlikely to occur..True peace in Ethiopia will require significant international effort and pressure. This pressure will have to come from all regions of the world, especially from the UN, the African Union (AU), and the US..The AU is confronted with a particular issue when it comes to dealing negatively with Ethiopia. This is primarily because Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is one of the AU's two political centers, with Johannesburg in South Africa acting as the second..Ethiopia, host to the technical headquarters of the AU, holds significant political sway in the bloc and thus holds influence on if it can be truly held accountable by the AU in its ill dealings and actions..For Dejen and the other peacekeepers, immediate action must be taken by the UNHCR, the IOM, and other agencies in the area in order to withdraw them to a third country where they will not be targeted..The SAF and the RSF, in recent times, have both reiterated their commitments to the protection of civilians. Since then, attacks against civilians have been carried out by both sides..The international community, at the UN Security Council, in the AU, in the EU, in regional blocs, and elsewhere, continues to call upon warring parties in Sudan to exercise restraint and protect civilians so that the people within Sudan, both Sudanese and Tigrayan, may experience peace.