CAIRO: Refugees from Sudan’s civil war who fled into neighboring Ethiopia say they have been forced to move on again and take shelter in a forest and on roadsides after repeated attacks by gunmen left their tents pock-marked with bullet holes.
About 8,000 people have left the Kumer and Awlala refugee camps, set up by the United Nations in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region, since repeated assaults last month, mostly by bandits, camp representatives told Reuters this week.
They had originally fled fighting that broke out between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023 that has led to extreme hunger in parts of that country and accusations of ethnic cleansing in Darfur.
“We left our country because we were scared of the stray bullets from the army and RSF,” one young man told Reuters by phone.
“We sought refuge in Ethiopia to save our lives, and now we are facing the same danger.”
He said he had originally left Sudan’s capital Khartoum, then the camps, and was now sheltering in a forest with fellow refugees in the Amhara region — where militias have been battling Ethiopian federal government troops in a separate conflict.
Images sent via WhatsApp and Telegram showed makeshift dwellings made out of branches and tarp, and scores of people, including many children, sitting outside along a roadside. Reuters confirmed the date and location of the photographs.
Like others there, the young man spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he feared reprisals. Their accounts highlighted the lack of options facing Sudan’s refugees as they look for shelter in countries with their own conflicts and shortages.
The Ethiopian government’s Refugee and Returnee Service did not respond to requests for comment. In early May it said it was engaged with refugees to address safety and service concerns, despite limited resources.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR referred Reuters to a statement from last week that acknowledged security incidents and a “deeply challenging” security environment, without going into further details.
In the statement it said Ethiopian police had increased patrols, and that it continued to provide services inside the two camps and to encourage what it said were around 1,000 people outside Awlala to return. There was no-one immediately available to comment on the different estimate of the numbers involved.
Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 8.9 million people fleeing their homes. Of the 2.1 million who left the country, more than 122,000 have gone to Ethiopia, according to the International Organization for Migration.
The aid group Medical Teams International, which has run a clinic near the camps in Ethiopia, said last week one of its staff was killed after armed men fired on a convoy.
’CATASTROPHE AFTER CATASTROPHE’
Refugees who were now sheltering outside the camps told Reuters people faced regular violence.
“People have to go to the valley to bathe and wash clothes. But they are either robbed, beaten up, or kidnapped daily,” said one member of a camp leadership committee.
“We are facing catastrophe after catastrophe,” they said.
Cholera has spread in Kumer, where there was at most one doctor available to see patients, several refugees and an aid worker, who asked not to be named, said. Monthly food deliveries by the UN World Food Programme last less than two weeks, two refugees told Reuters.
Three refugees told Reuters that about 6,000 people from Kumer and Awlala had set off together on May 1 to walk 170 km (105 miles) to the UNHCR’s headquarters in Amhara’s main city of Gondar to protest about their conditions.
They were stopped by police and sought shelter in a forest near the Awlala camp, the three refugees said.
Many of them began a 10-day hunger strike over conditions as supplies ran low, which they stopped after donations came in from Sudanese abroad, the only assistance received so far, the three said.
About 2,000 who remained at Kumer fled onto a main road after armed men began firing at the camp on May 1, the committee member and another refugee said. Those who later returned found gunshots had pierced the tents, they said, convincing them that the men aimed to drive them out.
Aid workers, who asked not to be named, say insecurity and a lack of funds have severely hampered relief efforts.
The UN says just $400,000 in funding for Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia has been delivered, out of an appeal for more than $175 million.
Attacks leave Sudanese refugees stranded in Ethiopian forest
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Attacks leave Sudanese refugees stranded in Ethiopian forest
- About 8,000 people have left the Kumer and Awlala refugee camps, set up by the United Nations in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region, since repeated assaults last month
- “We left our country because we were scared of the stray bullets from the army and RSF,” one young man told Reuters
Ireland calls Israeli demand to move UN troops ‘outrageous’
“Indeed, Israel is demanding that the entire UNIFIL operating under UN mandates walk away“
DUBLIN: The president of Ireland on Saturday sharply criticized Israel’s demand that UN peacekeepers leave their positions in southern Lebanon.
“It is outrageous that the Israeli Defense Forces have threatened this peacekeeping force and sought to have them evacuate the villages they are defending,” President Michael Higgins said in a statement.
“Indeed, Israel is demanding that the entire UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon) operating under UN mandates walk away.”
Ireland accounts for 347 of the 10,000 soldiers serving in the UNIFIL forces, which are charged with maintaining peace in the south of Lebanon.
Earlier Saturday, UNIFIL said it had rejected Israeli demands that it “relocate” some positions ahead of Israeli ground operations against Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Higgins called the demand “an insult to the most important global institution.”
Fighting between Hezbollah and Israel has intensified since the start of ground incursions by Israeli troops in southern Lebanon earlier this week.
Some 1,110 people have died in Lebanon and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes because of the fighting.
Hezbollah says targets north Israel ‘military industries’ firm
- The group said it launched “a rocket salvo” toward a “military industries company” east of Acre
BEIRUT: Hezbollah said it launched rockets at a defense company in northern Israel Saturday, the latest attacks after Israel intensified its bombing campaign last week, nearly a year into cross-border clashes with the group.
The Iran-backed group said in a statement that it launched “a rocket salvo” toward a “military industries company” east of Acre.
Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Pro-Palestinian supporters from across the country began the march from Russell Square to Downing Street demanding an end to the conflict
- At Saturday’s 20th “National March for Palestine” in London, familiar chants — “ceasefire now,” “stop bombing hospitals, stop bombing civilians“
LONDON: Thousands of protesters marched through central London on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon as the war in the Palestinian territory neared the one-year mark.
Pro-Palestinian supporters from across the country began the march from Russell Square to Downing Street demanding an end to the conflict, which has killed nearly 42,000 people in Gaza;
At Saturday’s 20th “National March for Palestine” in London, familiar chants — “ceasefire now,” “stop bombing hospitals, stop bombing civilians” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — were joined by shouts of “hands off Lebanon.”
The rally came ahead of the one-year anniversary of the October 7 attack in Israel by fighters from Palestinian group Hamas which resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 41,825 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the territory’s health ministry and described as reliable by the United Nations.
Zackerea Bakir, 28, said he has attended dozens of marches around the Uk.
Large numbers continue to turn up because “everyone wants a change,” Bakir told AFP.
“It’s continuing to just get worse and worse, and yet nothing seems to be changing... I think it’s tiring that we have to continue to come out,” said Bakir, joined at the rally by his mother and brother.
Several protesters carried posters reading “Starmer has blood on his hands.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held by Hamas, as well as suspended some arms licenses to Israel.
However, many at the rally said it was not enough.
Sophia Thomson, 27, found the Labour government’s stance “hypocritical.”
According to Thomson, the size of the protests “goes to show the government doesn’t speak for the people.”
“It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough,” added Bakir, calling for the government to “stop giving a carte blanche of support to the Israeli government.”
London’s Metropolitan police put in place a “significant” policing operation ahead of planned protests and memorial events.
While the rally was largely peaceful, two were arrested for assaulting an emergency worker, according to the Met.
Three others were arrested as tensions rose between the main march and a counter protest.
While exact numbers at the demonstration were unclear, “it appears to be greater than other recent protests,” the Met said on X.
Another rally also took place simultaneously in the Irish capital, Dublin.
A memorial for the October 7 attack will be held in London on Sunday.
Israelis threaten to destroy town of Taraya in Bekaa
- Israeli strike hits Tripoli in north Lebanon, source says
- More nightly raids hit Beirut’s southern suburbs
BEIRUT: The Israeli military has threatened to destroy a town in Bekaa, believing it contains weapons that may be used by the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Mayors in the town of Taraya — Ali Hamieh, Ahmed Mohsen Hamieh, and Yasser Mehdi Hamieh — have received calls from Israel informing them that Hezbollah weapons are being held in their town and if they are not removed within a day, the town will be destroyed.
Taraya is located in central Bekaa and is part of the Baalbek district, 74 km from Beirut. It is considered a supportive environment for Hezbollah and has been targeted by numerous Israeli airstrikes in the past two weeks.
This is the first time a direct threat has been made to completely destroy an entire town. Previous threats have been limited to southern towns and neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
Israeli attacks intensified on Saturday on Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern towns. According to a report by the Higher Defense Council, the death toll in the past 24 hours had reached 37, with 151 injured, raising the total number of victims in Lebanon since the confrontations began to 2,011 dead and 9,535 wounded.
The scope of Israeli targeting is no longer confined to a specific area, or with any restrictions.
Israeli attacks have reached the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, specifically the Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp, where a combat drone targeted an apartment in a residential building inside the camp, killing Hamas’ leader Saeed Atallah Ali and three members of his family.
Airstrikes have also resumed in Beirut’s southern suburbs, targeting the area of Mrayjeh and Ain Al-Sikka Square in Burj Al-Barajneh, killing two people and injuring others.
The area had not been fully evacuated because some residents believed “there were no Hezbollah security zones,” while other people had “no other place to go.”
Airstrikes for the first time have targeted the road leading to Al-Rassoul Al-Aazam Hospital in a Hezbollah stronghold.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee told residents in neighborhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate in preparation for further strikes.
Israeli warplanes launched a series of raids following the warning, targeting the vicinity of Al-Qaim Mosque, Burj Al-Barajneh, the Sayed Al-Shuhada Complex, Haret Hreik, Bir Al-Abd, Al-Ruwais, Al-Abyad, Choueifat Al-Ajneha, Al-Khamseh, and Al-Marija.
The Israel Broadcasting Authority said that “Israel attacked the southern suburbs of Beirut at least six times within a span of 20 minutes.”
Rescue teams have not yet been able to clear the debris from a location that was targeted late on Thursday — a Hezbollah command center underground in Al-Marija — due to Israeli threats to target anyone who approaches the area.
It is believed that the target of the airstrike was Hashem Safieddine, a prominent Hezbollah leader and one of the leading candidates to succeed its former chief Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted the party’s command center a week ago.
While Hezbollah has not provided any clarification about the fate of Safieddine and his companions, Al Arabiya quoted a Lebanese security source as saying that “contact with Safieddine has been cut off since Friday’s raids” and that “he was most likely assassinated in the raids.”
Israeli airstrikes targeted the area of the Masnaa border crossing with Syria for a second day on Saturday, with crossing now only possible on foot.
Raids also targeted the road to Baalbek. A young woman lost her life due to injuries incurred during a raid on the town of Ain, located in northern Bekaa, where she was serving with the Lebanese Red Cross.
One person was killed in a raid on the Saadnayel plain in central Bekaa while two fatalities occurred as a result of a guided missile strike on a vehicle along the Marj Zebdine-Nabatieh road.
Operations conducted in the southern region on Friday night resulted in the deaths of two young men in Harouf in the Nabatieh district while one person was killed and another injured in the town of Majdal Selm in Tyre.
Three people lost their lives during a raid on a residence in the eastern town of Zawtar.
Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil received intense shelling following an Israeli appeal for its evacuation. The bombardment resulted in injuries to nine members of the medical and nursing staff, with the hospital later being evacuated and medical operations suspended.
Hezbollah continued its attacks on Israeli military installations. The group said it had aimed at “enemy positions and assemblies near the Dan settlement, the city of Safed, the Karmiel settlement, and the Sasa settlement using two Falaq-2 missiles.”
The Israeli military said it had “intercepted some of Hezbollah’s missiles, while others fell in open areas,” adding that “the air force will intensify its strikes on the southern suburbs.”
Hezbollah said its members were “monitoring, tracking, and responding to any hostile movements at the front line in southern Lebanon; actively pursuing Israeli soldiers in their bases and rear positions along the border in the occupied territories; (and) utilizing artillery shells and rocket barrages.”
Displaced Gazan mothers struggle to care for their newborns
- “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant or given birth during the war because life is completely different,” said Rana Salah
- Milana is one of around 20,000 babies to have been born in Gaza in the last year, according to UNICEF statistics
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza: Gazan mother Rana Salah cradles her one-month-old daughter Milana in her arms in a sweltering tent for the displaced, and speaks of the guilt she feels for bringing her child into a world of war and suffering.
“If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant or given birth during the war because life is completely different; we’ve never lived this life before,” she said, speaking at a camp in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
“I gave birth twice before, and life was better and easier for me and the child. Now, I feel like I’ve wronged both myself and the child because we deserve to live better than this.”
Milana was born in a hospital tent by caesarean owing to complications with Salah’s pregnancy. The family have not been able to return home due to the conflict, moving instead from one tent to another.
Milana is one of around 20,000 babies to have been born in Gaza in the last year, according to UNICEF statistics.
The current war, a particularly deadly episode in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict, was triggered on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israeli air and artillery strikes in response have reduced much of the Palestinian enclave to rubble and more than 41,500 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli assault, according to the Gaza health ministry. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced.
INFECTION RISK
Salah fans Milana with cardboard and says the heat is bad for the baby’s skin.
“Instead of returning to our house, we keep moving from one tent to another... where diseases are widespread and the water is contaminated.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said postnatal services have decreased significantly in Gaza, so women who have complications have less access to the care they need, as do their babies.
Rick Brennan, the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Regional emergency director, said malnutrition was a threat to newborns, particularly if their mothers were unable to breastfeed, as there was no access to breast milk substitutes.
Displacement and being constantly on the move are disruptive for a newborn and expose them to risks of infection, he said.
Manar Abu Jarad is staying in a school shelter run by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). Her youngest daughter Sahar was born on Sept. 4th, also by caesarean section. Her husband was killed in the war.
On hearing she would need a caesarean for the birth, she worried about how she would care for her other children.
“I already have three girls. I started shouting... How can I carry (water) buckets? How can I bathe my daughters? How can I help them and my husband is not with me, he was martyred.”
Children rock baby Sahar, who is swaddled in a crib, next to Jarad.
“I’ve reached the point where I cannot carry the responsibility for this girl ... Thank God I found some help here,” she said. She has borrowed what she can from family and uses one diaper a day for the baby as she can’t afford more.
“I don’t have the money to provide diapers or milk for her.”
Jarad longs for an end to the war and a return to her home, even if it is just a tent next to her former home.
“The important thing is to go home. Enough of all the exhaustion we are experiencing here, enough carrying buckets, enough of the dirt in the bathrooms. It’s really, really hard and really tiring for us. Diseases are everywhere.”
